What's So Great About Normal?
by 75678
Summary: AU from Wheels. Yes, Tina's been faking her stutter. But it's got nothing to do with Missouri. And despite an intervention from Santana and Mike, Artie's going to find out the real reason.
1. Chapter 1: Tina

Damn you, plot bunny. Damn you. Okay, this is really AU after Wheels. Really, really AU.

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I'm sorry, too. Because now you get to be normal and I'll be stuck in this chair the rest of my life. And that's not something I can fake._

Artie wheeled off into the distance after his bitter parting words and Tina stood in shocked silence as he went. As soon as she saw him turn the corner and out of sight, she turned around sharply and addressed the space behind her in a harsh voice.

"I know you're there. You may as well come out now, you've done your damage."

Two figures emerged from around the corner. From the way Mike was supporting Santana as she all but stumbled towards her, Tina knew her suspicions were correct.

"Tina, you need to keep calm," Mike said in a low voice. "You know what happens when you freak out."

She ignored his comment totally and honed in her rage on Santana. "I can't believe you did that. To me. You swore you would never do that to me!"

"If it makes any difference, it hurt like a bitch," replied Santana, holding on to Mike for dear life and at least three shades paler than normal. In any other circumstances, Tina would be insisting they drive the other girl back to Mike's place immediately – when she was this worn out, it was best to congregate at the Changs, who never asked questions. "And you know I hate doing it for that long."

"Here's an idea, then," Tina all but spat out. "Don't! Just... don't!" She backed away from them, aware of the flickering lights in the hallway. Maybe Mike was right. Maybe she did need to calm down. But it was hard, when her heart felt it was going to explode from the expression on Artie's face, in reaction to the words that she didn't even say.

"You were going to tell him!" Santana accused. "Mike saw it. He knew you were going to tell him. And you didn't even think to mention it to us?" Despite her exhaustion, Santana looked ready for a fight. "This isn't just your life you're screwing around with, Tina. The more people who know, the more dangerous it is for all of us."

"So you make up some story about the Missouri compromise?" Tina shot back. "Make up some story about how I lied about my stutter so people would leave me alone because I'm shy?"

"It's the truth!" said Santana icily. "You lied about your stutter so people would leave you alone. And you are shy."

"I am, but that's not why I did it and you know it," Tina said, her control over her temper wearing thin. From above her, she could hear a light bulb crack. "I wanted to be honest with him. I was going to be honest with him because I care about him and I know he cares about me and I didn't want to start things off with secrets between us."

"This is a secret you need to keep," Mike said, his voice still low. "Tina, he's not going to understand any of it and it'll be just one more thing you can do that he can't. He'll freak out. He'll tell the wrong person. And by then, all three of us will be locked up somewhere so people can test what we're capable of."

Tina desperately wanted to reply with 'you can't possibly know that'. But this was Mike. He knew. He _saw_. If he said that's what would happen, then that's what would happen. That was why he was standing there, a sad but determined look on his face. Supporting Santana even though he knew what possession took out of her. Especially when possessing someone like Tina, who would fight back with every fiber of her being the minute she sensed invasion.

"You should have told us," Santana said, breaking the awkward silence. She stepped forward, shrugging off Mike's arm and reaching towards Tina. Tina resisted the urge to throw off her friend's comforting touch, still reeling from the betrayal. "I knew you liked Artie but I had no idea you guys were getting that kind of close."

"Of course we were close," Tina said sadly. "He was my best friend. You two won't even talk to me at school. You barely even talk to each other, even though you're dating each others best friends. Artie's been there for me when you two haven't, and even though I know you two are the only ones who can really understand what it's like, part of me feels like Artie could, too. He knows what it's like to be different."

"There's a huge difference between being in a wheelchair and being able to see the future, or control things with your mind," Mike said carefully. "Yes, they're both 'different' but if you had the choice between being stuck in a wheelchair and telekinesis, which would you choose?"

She got his point. She really did. "He's a huge comic book nerd, I bet he'd think it was awesome to date a superhero," she pointed out, a little too lightly.

"No, he wouldn't," said Mike, with absolute confidence. "It'd be one more thing he couldn't do. One more way you had more than he does. Look at it from his point of view. Not only can you do the thing he desperately wishes he could do – walk – you can also make the lights in the hallway explode when you get really pissed off about something."

Tina looked up at the ceiling. "Oh crap."

Santana sighed. "Look, I didn't know he'd react so badly to the fake stutter thing. And let's be honest, if you take the whole... weird abilities thing out of the equation, I told him the truth, didn't I?"

"It's kind of hard to take the 'weird abilities' out of the equation when the whole reason you told him the truth is because you momentarily possessed me," said Tina bitterly. "It's also kind of hard to see someone you care about who's in a truly awful situation, wheeling away from you, upset because now you get to be normal." She pointed to the broken light bulb. "This is not normal!"

Okay, so she hadn't thought that through so well. The moment she pointed to the light bulb, it shattered into a million pieces, raining down shattered glass. Tina didn't react fast enough and the glass fell straight on to her, leaving tiny cuts on every inch of exposed flesh. Panic and adrenaline shot through her and she heard a loud explosion from the end of the corridor, the echo ringing in her ears. The last thing she registered before passing out completely was Mike's panicked expression before tearing down the corridor in the direction Artie had left.


	2. Chapter 2: Artie

Chapter 2

Wheeling away was never the most effective way of leaving a conversation, seeing as anyone with working legs could easily catch you with minimal effort. Despite her initial plea for him to stay, Tina wasn't making any move to follow him. Artie rolled his eyes at the thought. Why would she? And why would he want her to? She'd been lying to him, lying about something he thought brought them together and it hurt more than he cared to admit. It also hurt that she clearly hadn't intended to hurt him but she'd managed to anyway. The slightly morbid part of his brain wondered what she'd be able to accomplish if she ever did intend to hurt him. It wasn't a pleasant thought, especially in association with Tina, who despite her penchant for goth rocker chick clothing, was one of the sweetest people he knew. She never intended to hurt him. And she'd looked so sad and hurt as he'd left her and... should he turn around? Should he go back? He hadn't even realized he'd come to a stop just around the corner until he heard the sound of breaking glass.

He turned his chair around to get a better look and could see the lights flickering oddly down the corridor. He moved to maneuver himself towards the source of the noise – around the part of the corridor where he'd left Tina – when he realized he could hear voices. Namely, one voice, carrying above the others.

"I was going to be honest with him because I care about him and I know he cares about me and I didn't want to start things off with secrets between us."

His heart leapt to his throat at the sound of Tina's voice. She sounded... upset. Really upset. And the words she was saying didn't quite make sense. Artie peered around the corner, trying not to draw attention to himself, to get a look at who Tina was talking to.

Santana was definitely not who he'd expected to see there. Nor was Mike. Sure, Artie had sensed a bond between Mike and Tina since Mike joined the Glee club, but he'd never seen Santana and Tina interacting outside of Glee club. Or even during Glee club. Santana usually regarded everyone in Glee with a certain amount of disdain that Artie really didn't care for. Sure, Santana was smoking hot, but in his opinion, she'd be a whole lot hotter if she weren't such a bitch all of the time. But there was Santana, reaching towards Tina, her hand in what looked like a gesture of comfort on Tina's arm. Artie couldn't make out what they were saying at all.

He could, however, make out a broken light bulb above Tina's head. And what looked like smoke coming from it. He rolled back around the corner to make sure he was completely out of sight and pondered his next move. Did he go back and apologize to Tina for storming out? Did he try and play the knight in shining... wheelchair and point out the fact that really, that light bulb looked like it could be pretty dangerous? Artie was trying to come to some kind of decision when the conversation down the hall became audible again.

"This is not normal!"

And with that, there was an even louder shattering noise. Artie rolled from around the corner to see the light bulb above Tina explode and shower her with shattered glass. He felt his pulse quicken with concern for her, then concern for the structural integrity of the hallway as somehow, for no real reason he could even begin to understand, all the light bulbs in the corridors started to explode and rain down glass. Starting from where Tina was standing and coming towards him like some sort of weird tsunami. What was even more alarming was the fact that a fire had started from the first light bulb and it was quickly spreading across the ceiling. And almost directly above him, a large emergency light exploded and burst into flames. Smoke started pouring towards him and he instinctively grabbed for his wheels to make a getaway. Tina. What about Tina. She might get hurt and he had to do something. Steeling himself and inwardly cursing his ridiculous desire to be a hero, he began to wheel himself in the direction of the smoke, fire and general chaos. Towards Tina. Who would probably be fine because she was with Santana and Mike (although that still didn't really compute in his mind, to be honest) and probably had no idea he was still here, and possibly didn't even want to see him right now.

The ceiling above him started to creak and he looked up to see it starting to fall in. He frantically grabbed at his wheels, propelling himself as fast as he could, desperately hoping he'd get away in time and not wanting to think about the consequences if he didn't. Through the quickly thickening smoke, he didn't even see Mike running towards him until he was right there. Without a word, Mike grabbed the handlebars of Artie's wheelchair and set off in a run down the corridor. Artie could hear a loud crash behind him. He didn't need to see it to know that a section of the roof, right above where he'd been sitting, had just fallen down.

The thought was quickly pushed aside when through the smoke, he saw a still form, lying in a pile of glass. There was Tina, covered in blood and not moving at all. Santana was crouched down next to her, evidently trying to get a response. Santana looked up as they approached, gave Artie an almost murderous glance, then focused her attention on Mike.

"She's out cold," Santana said, her normally bitchy tone gone. If Artie actually believed it were possible that Santana Lopez had actual feelings, he'd say she was worried. "We need to get her out of here." She glanced down the hallway. "Now."

In one fluid movement, Mike picked Tina up and placed her in Artie's lap before he could even think of reacting. "Hold onto her," Mike instructed. He looked back to Santana. "You okay, San?"

Santana nodded. "Let's go."

And with that, Mike grabbed on to Artie's handlebars again and pushed him down the hallway faster than Artie had ever been pushed in his wheelchair before. The world around him blurred and it was making him kind of dizzy, so he focused on something still. Far too still. Tina still wasn't moving. On closer inspection, Artie could see that her skin was covered in small cuts – from the glass, he imagined. The ones on her face were bleeding pretty badly and he had a moment of panic before rationalizing to himself that, yes, head wounds bleed, even if they're not that deep. Nothing looked too deep – just scratches, but still, seeing Tina unconscious and covered in blood made his stomach churn.

Especially seeing as he had absolutely no idea why she was unconscious. She'd been fine before, hadn't she? Physically fine, at least – he still hadn't forgotten the heartbroken look on her face. But she'd been fine. And people didn't just pass out for no reason. That, plus Mike and Santana being there, especially the way Santana was treating Tina... it was all looking stranger and stranger and he had no idea what to make of it. But he'd bet a sizable amount of money that Mike and Santana knew exactly what was going on.

He hadn't realized they'd reached the car park until the wheelchair came to an abrupt halt next to a beat up station wagon. Artie watched as Mike threw Santana the keys, Santana unlocked the door and Mike picked up Tina and loaded her into the car. Artie, trying to be helpful, pulled out his phone to call 911 for the fire he could still smell coming from the building. No sooner did he have it out did Santana take it off him and glare at him menacingly.

"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled.

"Calling 911," he replied. "The school's on fire!"

"There are detectors," Mike said. He turned to Santana. "The fire department is on it's way. If we're not out of here in 5 minutes, they'll ask us for eye witness reports."

"That's good," said Artie, getting more than a little irritated at being ignored by the two of them. "We _were _the eye witnesses."

"Yeah, well, we can't stick around," said Santana, her customary harsh tone laced with fear. She turned to Mike. "I don't know what he's seen and I'm still too wiped, I can't... you know. We'll have to take him with us."

Mike nodded, then pushed Artie's wheelchair around to the other side of the car. Artie barely had time to protest when Mike all but picked him up and placed him in the car. Mike gave him a weak smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. "Sorry, man. We're running out of time."

Artie wanted to ask what for but from the look on his face, Mike wasn't about to volunteer any answers. He heard the sounds of his wheelchair being stored in the trunk of the car and then both Santana and Mike got in. The beat-up station wagon drove out of the school ground like a bat out of hell and Artie looked over at the still unconscious Tina, wondering what the hell was going on.


	3. Chapter 3: Santana

This is where the rating comes in. For language. Lots of bad language. Also, I'm fully just writing this and posting as I go because the plot bunny won't leave me alone. Damn you, plot bunny. Damn you!

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Chapter 3

Throughout the drive to Mike's place, Santana and Mike sat in silence, ignoring any of Artie's questions. Santana couldn't believe just how much this whole damn thing had backfired. Here she was, trying to keep Artie from finding out and Tina goes and loses it and nearly burns down the damn school. Not that Santana really gave a crap about the school burning down. No, she was really more pissed that it had taken a shitload of effort on her part to stop Tina from spilling their secret to Artie and the way things were going, Wheels was going to find out anyway. She bit her lip, trying to keep a reign on her own fury. She had better control over her abilities than Tina did, which was frankly a blessing, as unchecked use of her abilities could seriously fuck things up. But still – get her upset enough and things start to go funky. And right now, she was pretty upset.

It wasn't as if she wanted to blame Tina. She knew Tina got a shit deal in this whole situation – the outcast, the stutterer, the goth, the wall flower. Tina was an emotional creature and her feelings got the better of her a lot of the time, especially given that she got picked on by the jocks and the Cheerios more than Santana could stand to watch most of the time. In her own way, Santana had taken steps to keep Tina out of the firing line as much as possible but the less public Tina was, the less likely she was to attract attention with her out of control abilities. Especially when if you got her pissed off enough, she'd set the damn school on fire.

Santana turned to Mike, wanting to check that things were going to be okay. She didn't even try to pretend she fully understood Mike's ability – unlike Santana and Tina, it wasn't something he could choose to use, or use accidentally. He just saw. And the fact that he'd told Santana about what he saw after Tina told Artie the truth was evidence enough that he supported her going to change it. She desperately, desperately wanted to know what he saw now. What they were supposed to do now.

Did she have enough energy to make Artie forget this whole damn thing had ever happened? What did he even know? She closed her eyes and focused on Artie, hoping his mind would be easy to get into. It wasn't like he knew to fight her off, after all.

_/what the fuck is going on /she looks so small/ I wish I'd never left her/ oh god/ how did I let this happen?/ what are they hiding?/ Santana and Mike know why she's like this/ so much blood/ bits of her hair are purple now/ I like the purple/ her hair's so pretty/ shit I'm scared/ is she going to be okay?/ why won't she wake up?/ how the hell did the school get on fire?/ did she do it?/ how did she do it?/ no, that's fucking crazy, she can't have done it/ I didn't know she was friends with them/ Santana always treats her like shit/ I don't get this/ she's really pale/ she should have woken up by now/ come on, Tee/ please, Tee/ why won't anyone tell me anything?/ I'm sorry, Tina, I should have been there/ wake up/ this is fucking crazy/ where are we going, anyway?/ Mike drives like a maniac/ _

Santana leaned in to whisper into Mike's ear. "You should probably slow down a little. No one's chasing us."

He nodded and slowed down. "Sorry. It's just... little bit freaked right now."

"Where are we going?" Artie asked from the backseat, clearly taking the opportunity since Mike and Santana had broken their silence.

"Mike's place," Santana replied icily. "You need to chill, Wheels."

_/you try chilling when someone you love is unconscious in a car and no one will tell you what the fuck's going on/_

Santana felt more than a little guilty at the emotions she could feel, tapped into Artie's thoughts. He really cared about Tina, that much was certain. But he was also freaked out of his mind at the whole thing and he hadn't even seen the worst of it yet. As Mike pulled into his driveway, Santana resolved to be a little bit nicer to the nerd in the wheelchair.

Mike headed directly to Tina's side of the car to pick her up so Santana figured she'd start the being nice by getting Artie's wheelchair out of the trunk. She brought it round to Artie's side of the car, to find he'd opened the door and was maneuvering himself to get into the chair. Santana felt a little bit uneasy – she had no fucking clue what to do. "Do you need help or something?"

"Just keep the chair steady," Artie replied. There was no mistaking the unchecked frustration in his voice. Santana rolled her eyes. Getting shitty about this wasn't going to change anything.

As soon as he was in the chair, he wheeled himself to the front door, which Mike had left open. Santana followed him inside and into the lounge, where Mike had laid Tina on the couch. Santana noticed with some concern that as far as she could see, Tina was still out cold. Mike came back into the room with a bowl, which he passed to Santana. "You should probably get her cleaned up," he said quietly. "I don't think she's bleeding anymore but she still kind of looks like Carrie on prom night."

"I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about," sneered Santana. "But sure. Whatever."

Artie rolled towards the couch and towards Tina, worry still etching his features. Santana felt something in her chest clench and wordlessly gave the bowl to Artie. He looked at her, nodding that he understood, and set to work, gently cleaning the cuts on Tina's skin. Santana took the opportunity to grab Mike and haul him into the kitchen.

"Okay, we need to figure out a game plan here," she said, the minute she was certain they were out of earshot. "Wheels knows something's up. He has no idea what but he's freaked out and he's really, really worried about Tina." She lowered her voice. "He really cares about her, Mike. Are you sure what you saw was..."

"I saw what would have happened if Tina had told him then," Mike replied, frowning. "It's complicated, the way things work – I didn't get much warning, I just knew she was going to tell him and he wasn't going to believe her, so she would show him and he would completely freak out. Then in a few days time, he'd crack and say something about it to Kurt. In earshot of Sue Sylvester. Who, as you know, is looking for people like us." He shook his head. "Now, I don't know."

"How the hell did you even know he was still there?" Santana asked. She felt ridiculous the minute the words left her mouth, because, hello, Mike. Pyschic or whatever.

"Because I saw what would have happened if I hadn't gotten there," Mike said darkly. "The ceiling would have fallen on him and trapped him and killed him. And Tina would have blamed herself for his death. And in a week's time, we would have found her hanging from the ceiling of her garage." He laughed bitterly. "Don't know about you, but I'm kind of glad we avoided that one."

Santana let out a shaky breath. "Fuck... so what do we do now? About Wheels, that is." She shot him an almost desperate look. "You know what happens now, don't you? I mean, you can see?"

Mike shook his head. "I have no fucking idea, San. And that's what scares me." He raked his hand through his hair. "I think Tina's going to be okay. She just exhausted herself when she set the school on fire, she'll come to eventually." He shrugged. "It happens to you, sometimes. When you decide you want something badly enough and you make it happen, you usually crash for a few days. You know it."

Santana crossed her arms. "Sure. Whatever. But this is the first time it's happened to Tina."

"That we know of," Mike reminded her. "You know she doesn't tell us everything. After all this time, she's still afraid of what she can do."

"Considering that she just burned down the school, I kind of get it."

Mike sighed. "Maybe we need to crack down on her about this. Get her to practice controlling her abilities better. If she's got better control, then things like this won't happen when she gets upset."

"That's all well and good, Mike, but what are we going to do about Artie?"

Mike gave her a resigned look. "How are you feeling? And how much does he know?"


	4. Chapter 4: Mike

Chapter 4

Ideally, there'd be some kind of way to resolve the problem without letting Santana loose on Artie's brain. Mike didn't even want to think about the ethical implications of what Santana could do so most of the time he just really tried not to. Still, there weren't all that many options here. He wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen next, try as he might, but maybe Santana could just... confuse him a little. And send him home safely, thinking the whole thing was in his imagination. But then he'd get to school tomorrow and find the place in... whatever state the school would end up in, Mike had no idea how far the fire had spread but it had looked pretty bad there for awhile. Whatever Tina had done had been pretty epic. If it weren't for the fact he was still worried about his friend, he'd admit that it was pretty cool Tina had managed to all but burn down the school with the power of her mind.

Sometimes it really pissed him off that the girls got way cooler powers than he did. Especially when his was so confusing and sporadic and sometimes, just really annoying. Like the time Brittany was over at his place and they were getting it on and suddenly, he _knew_ that his mother was about to walk in on them, all naked and horizontal and that she'd get all awkward and embarrassed then leave and present him with a box of condoms and a copy of the Kama Sutra at dinner that night and that just completely killed the mood. Not to mention there wasn't enough time to get fully dressed, so he couldn't prevent his mother from seeing them mostly unclothed anyway.

"He knows something's up," said Santana with a frown. "But he doesn't know anything in particular. And as far as I can see, he's not really going to start caring until he knows that Tina is okay. That was his biggest concern."

Well, that much was obvious. Mike wasn't an idiot – he'd seen the way Artie looked at Tina and he didn't need to read Artie's mind to know that he was pretty much besotted with her. And Tina... well, Mike had seen firsthand how much more Tina smiled when he was around. But he'd also _seen_ Artie's reaction to Tina's abilities. He'd well and truly freaked. Maybe after everything that had happened today, he wouldn't freak out so much but Mike wasn't sure he was willing to take that chance. Maybe there was some kind of a cover story they could come up with.

"What should we tell him?" Mike asked.

Santana shrugged. "Maybe we can say that Tina's epileptic? That's why she passed out?"

"Okay, that's one thing taken care of. But epilepsy is not going to explain away the fact that Tina nearly burned down the school."

"He doesn't know it was Tina." Santana shook her head. "He thought it might be, though. He was definitely thinking it. He couldn't figure out how, but he was thinking it. That means he's got suspicions."

Mike sighed. "Look, Artie's a smart guy. If we explain things well enough, he'll understand." He gave Santana a guarded look. "Okay, how about this – we go, we tell him, we gauge his reaction and if he completely loses it, you make him forget."

"The more we tell him, the harder it's going to be to make him forget," Santana argued. "I could just make him forget now."

"I don't know if that's okay," said Mike. "I mean, I don't know how he's going to react. He could be fine. I don't want to make him forget if we don't need to – it's not good for you. You've already exhausted yourself once today. If you do it again, I don't know what would happen."

"If we tell him and he freaks, I'll have to make him forget and it'll be way much more effort than I've ever used before," Santana countered. "I don't know if we have another option."

"We should check on Tina," Mike said, trying to ignore the fact that his moral conscience was screaming at him that taking someone's memory like that was really not okay. "Once we know she's okay, that's when he'll want answers. And we need to make sure she's not awake and taking the decision out of our hands, anyway."

Santana nodded, then turned and headed back into the lounge, ponytail flying behind her. Mike followed, to see Artie wringing out the facecloth into the bowl of water, which was now a murky red. His stomach churned at the sight.

"She's not bleeding anymore," Artie informed them quietly as they entered. "But the scratches look pretty bad. Her parents are probably going to freak if they see her like this." He fixed Mike with a solemn look. "I've pretty much accepted that you guys aren't going to tell me what the hell is going on but I need to know she's going to be okay. She's been out cold for nearly half an hour now and if it weren't for the fact that Santana still has my phone, I would have called for an ambulance fifteen minutes ago."

Mike looked at Santana, who shrugged. "I have no idea where the hell I put your phone, Wheels. It's probably in the car." She sighed. "Or the parking lot at school."

"She's going to be okay," Mike assured Artie. "She's just tired. She has a... condition."

Artie frowned. "She never told me about any kind of condition and we hang out all the time."

"She's kind of sensitive about it," Santana piped up.

"Sure, and she'll tell you two about it before she'll tell me," Artie snapped. "You two barely talk to her. You're both part of the social elite at McKinley who make life hell for the rest of us and you expect me to believe that you're the ones she trusts to know about a condition she's sensitive about?"

"She doesn't tell you everything," Santana snapped back, clearly ready for a fight. "And when she tries to tell you something important, like how she faked her stutter, you have to go be a little bitch about it and leave her heartbroken. You think we want to see Tina hurt like that?"

Artie pulled back as if Santana had slapped him. Mike put his hand on Santana's shoulder. "San, you need to ca-"

"If you tell me to calm down one more time, Michael, I will end you." Santana pulled away from his touch.

"I don't understand why you two suddenly care what happens to Tina," said Artie, somewhat snidely.

"There's nothing sudden about it!" Santana put her hands on her hips. "You have no god damn clue. You think you sit there all wise in your wheelchair and observe us and that gives you the right to pass judgment but you have no _fucking_ idea what's really going on with her."

"I would if someone would tell me. The school doesn't just catch fire. The lights don't just explode. Shattered glass falling on her doesn't result in half an hour of being unconscious." Artie's voice was starting to crack with emotion. "Something is going on and you two know what it is, so instead of yelling at me, tell me what we need to do to help Tina."

"Is Tina sleeping?"

Mike turned to see his sister Lily in the doorway, looking at Tina's still form on the sofa with a frown on her face. Santana's demeanour instantly changed from hostile to friendly as she saw the younger girl.

"Hey Lils," Santana said with a smile. "Tina's not feeling well, so she's just having a sleep. You wanna come here and give me a hug?"

Lily looked at Tina, then Santana, then Tina again. She walked over to the sofa near Tina's head, where Artie was still keeping vigil. "Maybe I can make her feel better?"

Mike exchanged an alarmed look with Santana. "Lily, it's okay, you don't need to make her feel better," said Santana reassuringly. "It's okay. Just come over here, alright?"

Lily bit her lip, looked at Santana one last time and then focused her attention on Tina. "She's all scratchy," Lily announced. She extended a small hand and touched Tina's forehead -

_/"I can help him, Tina."  
"Sweetie, it's good that you want to help but it might hurt you."_

"_He asked me to help him. After he saw me help you."_

"_You need to be careful, honey."_

"_I just want to help. He looks so sad. When he watches you dancing with Mike... he wants to dance with you, instead."/_

_/"She was just a kid. She had her whole life ahead of her. And you have to go and be selfish-"_

"_What's selfish about wanting to walk? You guys have these abilities, these amazing things you can do, and I didn't even have working legs."_

"_Well, you do now, and all it cost you was a 4 year old girl, does that make you happy?"_

"_Of course it doesn't... I never wanted this to happen... but you don't know what it's like... you can't understand, you could never understand..."_

"_That's all you ever talk about, us not understanding... well, what about you? What the fuck do you know about us?"/_

_/ "How do you explain suddenly being able to walk? Your injuries were severe, Mr. Abrams, impossible to recover. And with the death of Ms. Chang at the same time, your associations with the Chang family... well, we made the connection. We can't have this kind of thing going on, right under our noses. You're coming with us-"_

"_You can't do this-"/_

_/ "She was volatile. She was dangerous. She had to be eliminated for the safety of everyone else. God knows what else that freak was capable of."_

"_You bastards... you... oh god, I'm gonna be sick..."_

"_You let us right to her, Abrams, did you really think you could just walk away and have your fairytale life with your working legs?"/_

Mike snapped back to reality to see Tina sitting up on the couch, the scratches on her face having disappeared completely. He looked over to see Artie staring at her in absolute shock and Lily on Santana's lap, snuggling up against her. "I just wanted to help."

"Santana," he said hoarsely, barely trusting his voice. "You need to do it."

Santana looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Lily, you go see Mike now, okay?" As Lily headed off in Mike's direction, Santana got up, grabbed the handlebars of Artie's wheelchair and wordlessly pushed him into the kitchen.

Tina still looked a little disoriented but obviously understood what was going on. "Santana, no!" She rushed to get up but Mike held her back down.

"Trust me on this," he said urgently. "You need to trust me." He pulled her into a tight embrace as she burst into tears.


	5. Chapter 5: Tina

Chapter 5

The school hadn't burned down completely. The corridor where everything went down, however, was in pretty bad shape, so Principal Figgins had called an assembly at the beginning of the day, letting the entire student body know that particular area was out of bounds. Three classrooms were no longer accessible, thanks to the corridor being shut down for repair, and those classes were to be held either in the library, the gym or the auditorium, depending on time and availability. Figgins' secretary had done a painstakingly careful job of figuring out where everyone needed to be in order to avoid clashes. Still, pretty much no one showed up for any of the classes, so her work was more or less in vain anyway. The whole day was more or less a waste of time. Because the corridor that was now out of bounds contained a decent amount of lockers, any student whose locker was no longer accessible was excused from having the appropriate materials in class. Seeing as none of the teachers demanded proof of the location of a student's locker, a decent number of students took advantage of the fact and did absolutely nothing all day.

Mike had driven Tina to school that morning. After Santana had used her power to alter Artie's memories, she'd passed out and had been moved to the guest room at the Changs, where Mrs. Chang was keeping an eye on her. Santana's parents didn't care much what she did, so there wasn't really much to do to keep them happy, but Mrs. Chang had called the school on Santana's behalf to inform them that Santana probably wouldn't be attending for the rest of the week. With a grim look on her face, Mrs. Chang had informed both Mike and Tina that Santana could be out for the count for a few days. She'd had a lot taken out of her – more than ever before – and though Mrs. Chang was fairly certain Santana would recover, she couldn't give a time frame. Lily was distraught and wanting to help but Mike had been adamant that she stay away. Tina couldn't quite get over the absolute terror in Mike's eyes when Lily had suggested that she try to help.

In typical Mike fashion, he wasn't saying much about the whole situation, except informing Tina on what Artie now thought had happened the day before, thanks to Santana. He and Tina had had their wheelchair drag racing date. They'd had a great time, then he'd walked her home. Tina wanted desperately to ask if Artie remembered her kissing him but couldn't bring herself to ask Mike, of all people, if they'd kept that detail in. She wasn't sure exactly what Santana had changed and what she'd kept, bar Mike's hurried explanation. The most basic explanation Santana gave was that she could tap into people's minds and hear what they were thinking, which didn't take much effort at all, or she could change things. She could control what they said or did, which was enough effort to make her feel kind of shaky, or she could control what they thought, which was enough to knock her out for awhile. The fact that Santana was still out cold a day later kind of freaked Tina out but she'd be more concerned about Santana if it hadn't been Artie's mind she'd been screwing around with.

The entire day, Tina avoided Artie as much as she could possibly get away with. It wasn't too hard, seeing that their lockers were in the no-go zone where she'd gone all pyromaniac and they didn't have any classes together that day. They had the same lunch period but it was easy enough to sit in the girl's bathroom and eat her sandwich, despite being slightly squicked at the fact that this was totally not hygienic. There was, however, Glee rehearsal to deal with and it wasn't something she wanted to miss. They were going to be rehearsing Proud Mary in their wheelchairs. It was only right before the end of the day that she realised something that made her heart stop in horror.

She'd left her wheelchair in the corridor. That was pretty much proof she'd been there.

Quickly, she texted Mike to meet her and they skipped last period to plan strategy in his car. "You know Sue Sylvester is going to be all over this whole thing, cos it's so super weird," Tina babbled, playing with her arm warmers and trying not to burst into tears. "She's going to find my wheelchair there, she'll know it was me – or at least, she'll know it was someone in the Glee club. I mean, we're the ones running around in – wheeling around in wheelchairs this week. She has to know."

"Maybe the wheelchair got destroyed in the fire?" Mike suggested weakly. "It's not very likely, but we can hope."

"No way." Tina felt tears stinging her eyes. Damn it. "We're d-d-d-doomed. She's gonna f-f-find out it was us and she'll d-d-do something... h-h-horrible."

"That reminds me," said Mike, his tone cautious. "The stutter. Artie doesn't remember the argument, so he won't know the stutter is fake. Even though I know it kind of comes back when you're upset, you might just want to keep that in mind."

Tina hadn't even thought about that. After having faked the stutter for so long, it had kind of become second nature to her. And in all honesty, when she was really upset, it wasn't fake at all. But the line of thinking Mike had brought up hurt, because it brought her back to the biggest question in her mind. She was going to go insane if she didn't know.

"Do you... do you know if he knows that we... k-k-k-kissed?"

Mike's expression was guarded. "I have no idea," he confessed after a moment. "Santana didn't say. I guess you'll just have to see how he reacts?" He looked at her questioningly. "Are you... what do you want to do about this, now? Do you want to be with him?"

"Yes," she said, before she could stop herself. "Yes. In my gut, in my heart, I want him. But I... I d-d-don't know if I can lie to him like this."

"For the time being, you might have to," said Mike gravely. "I can't... _we_ can't take any chances."

Tina crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back against the seat. "You keep telling me to trust you, Mike, but you won't tell me what it is that freaked you out so much. And what it has to do with Lily."

"It's not just Lily," Mike replied. "It'll affect all of us. If Artie finds out about us, things will end badly. I can see it."

"Will he tell the wrong person?" Tina asked. "Because if he knew why he shouldn't, he wouldn't. He's not that kind of person. If we explained to him why-"

"It's not what he'll say, it's what he'll do." Mike sighed. "What he'll ask Lily to do."

And the whole stupid situation suddenly made sense. Tina buried her head in her hands. "His legs."

"Lily will do it, because she's a kid and she just wants to help," Mike said wearily. "But it'll kill her. She's not strong enough to deal with that kind of power. And her death and his miraculously being able to walk will attract enough attention that they'll take my entire family. And then you. And they'll kill you, because you can't control your abilities and that'll make you dangerous." He sighed. "That's the one thing that can't be changed by making Artie forget, Tina. Your abilities are out of control. You nearly burned down the school. You need to start working on harnessing what you can do, controlling your emotions so everything that upsets you doesn't make everything around you blow up."

"So what are you saying I do here?" Tina asked, her mind reeling from the grim future Mike had just laid out.

"I'm saying we work on getting your abilities under control," said Mike firmly. "That's the important thing. We can't afford any more accidents. Not just because it could attract attention, but because you could hurt someone. You could hurt yourself."

"Do you see that?"

"Not in so many words," Mike admitted. "But it's within the realm of possibility. And what I can do... it's not as simple as that." He sighed again. "As for the wheelchair... I don't know. I don't see anything about it, so maybe it's not going to change anything."

_That was delightfully vague_, Tina thought to herself. With more than just a little trepidation that she headed to Glee rehearsal with Mike, trying to think of a good reason as to why she didn't have her wheelchair with her. Brittany's excuse of 'I lost it' probably wasn't going to cut it. She and Mike were the first to arrive in the choir room and to Tina's shock, she saw a wheelchair sitting next to the piano that she immediately recognised as the one she'd been given, due to the fact that Artie had given her a glow in the dark sticker of the Millenium Falcon to put on the side. She examined it carefully to see if there was any kind of damage, only to find a small folded piece of paper attached to the bottom of the seat. She opened it up to see what was inside.

**I'm looking out for you but you need to be more careful in future. **

Tina barely had time to ask herself what on earth that meant before the note dissolved into dust before her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6: Artie

Sooo... you should all probably click on my profile for details about the ArTina ficathon! It's going to be epic. And you should sign up.

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Chapter 6

By lunch period, Artie was starting to get a little paranoid that he hadn't seen Tina all day. They usually caught up at the beginning of the day by the lockers but given the fact that the corridor that contained their lockers was out of bounds, due to some weird freak accident in the wiring in the lights, that wasn't really an option. Come to think of it, wasn't that the corridor he and Tina had raced in their wheelchairs the day before? It was probably a good thing they hadn't been around when the lights caught fire – it could have been a complete disaster.

Artie smiled to himself at the memory of Tina trying to race him in a wheelchair, her insistence that it wasn't fair, due to his eight years of practice. She hadn't done too badly, though, he had to admit. Not that he'd ever wish anything like what had happened to him on her, but it kind of warmed his heart to see her making the effort to 'roll in his wheels', so to speak, more so than the other Glee clubbers. Tina was special like that – always making sure he was included, always anticipating what he needed to make things easier for him. He very rarely had to ask and for that he was thankful. There was something almost magical about Tina sometimes.

He rolled on up to sit with Kurt and Mercedes at their usual table and looked around. Still no sign of Tina. He turned to Mercedes. "Have you seen Tina today?"

It was Kurt who replied. "She was in English with me 2nd period. She seemed a little withdrawn – I don't think she even said two words to me."

"Yeah, because Tina's a total loudmouth the rest of the time," said Mercedes with a roll of her eyes. "I haven't seen her today but it's been pretty crazy with whatever happened by the lockers. Half of my science class didn't even bother to show up – who the hell had the idea to try and run the science class in the gym?"

"Did you text her?" Kurt asked.

Artie shook his head. "That's another thing – I have no idea where my phone is. I swear, today's just weird."

"Well, when did you last use it?" Mercedes offered helpfully.

Artie thought back. "I called my dad after school yesterday to tell him not to pick me up because I was hanging out with Tina." He blushed slightly. "We had a date."

Kurt and Mercedes exchanged looks. Artie would have kicked himself if it were physically possible. Clearly, Tina hadn't told Mercedes about that little detail and maybe he wasn't supposed to mention it. He had no idea. Girls were confusing. And on top of not having seen Tina, having lost his phone and the whole day being a little off due to the hallway fire, the details of his date with Tina last night were a little hazy. Last night, he dreamed she kissed him and it felt so damn real that he had to think back to the date and ask himself if it had really happened. If she'd really kissed him. He couldn't be sure she had but the way his heart raced every time he thought about it, he couldn't be sure she _hadn't_.

"You had a date yesterday and now you haven't seen Tina all day," Kurt stated, clearly wanting clarification.

"Well, yeah."

"This isn't good," said Mercedes, shooting Kurt a worried look. "She's avoiding him."

"Clearly, but why?" Kurt asked. "I mean, she's obviously into him."

"I'm right here, guys," Artie pointed out.

"You think we haven't seen you two be sickeningly sweet towards each other?" said Kurt, in typical glamorous disdain. "Please. We were this close to locking the two of you in a closet together until you finally saw reason and tore each other's clothes off."

"What the hell did you do, Wheels?" asked Mercedes, her tone extremely disapproving.

"What makes you think I did anything?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Please. She's the one avoiding you. It's clearly your fault." He focused his attention on Artie. "Okay. Start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened last night. We'll figure out where you went wrong."

"Who says I did anything wrong?"

"The absence of Tina at this table says you did something wrong. Now spill."

"We raided the vending machines and ate ridiculous amounts of M&Ms," Artie began. "Then we hung out in the choir room and did acoustic versions of Paramore songs. And then we had a wheelchair drag race down the corridor. And then..."

"Then what?" Mercedes pressed.

Artie tried to keep his expression blank. The weird thing about this was that he wasn't a hundred percent sure what happened then. Something. They'd... gone home? She'd walked him home? But there was something, something else... she'd kissed him.

Had she kissed him?

"Then we went home," he finished with a shrug. "I wheeled her home. Then I went home and did my homework."

Kurt fixed Artie with a challenging glare. "You hesitated. What aren't you telling us?"

"I'm not _not_ telling you anything," he lied. "That's just... that's all that happened. That's all."

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged a concerned look, then Mercedes turned to Artie to dish out what Artie was sure was going to be _fantastic_ advice on the whole subject. "We can't help you figure out what you did wrong unless you tell us all the details."

"I didn't do _anything_," Artie snapped. "I have no idea where Tina is, I don't know why she's avoiding me – I don't even know if she's avoiding me. She's her own person, she doesn't have be around all the time. There's probably a really good explanation why she's not here now. And I'll see her this afternoon at Glee rehearsal anyway. So you both need to back the hell off."

"Oh no you didn't, white boy," Mercedes shot back. "Don't you be sassing us when we're just trying to help."

"Maybe you should both just try not helping for a chance," replied Artie icily, before rolling away. All of a sudden, he really wasn't hungry.

His mood didn't improve any when he didn't see Tina at all the rest of the day. Sure, Tina was good at fading into the background but it wasn't like she usually avoided him or anything. And especially after their date, Artie was starting to believe Kurt and Mercedes' insistence that it was a bad sign. It would just be really awesome if he could figure out exactly what it is he'd done wrong.

It'd also be awesome to remember the date properly. He'd woken up that morning with a bit of a headache, maybe that was why things were hard to remember. But still... if Tina had actually kissed him, it wasn't something he'd forget any time soon. At the same time, though, it could have been a fantasy because Tina was pretty frequently featured in his dreams, in various incarnations. Sometimes there'd be situations where they'd be hanging out and she'd suddenly kiss him in his dreams, whereas sometimes the situations were more elaborate. Like the time he dreamed they were fighting dragons with lightsabers and just before they were about to take a flying leap ONTO the dragon, he pulled her in for a kiss. In his dreams, he could always walk.

So when he wheeled into the choir room for Glee rehearsal that afternoon, he immediately scanned the room for Tina. She was standing next to her wheelchair, looking a little bit like she'd seen a ghost. As he approached, he could swear she went even paler. Artie offered her a smile.

"Hey girl, where've you been at all day?"

She bent her head down, curtain of black and blue hair covering her face. "I've b-b-been busy, it's b-b-been crazy with the... f-f-f-fire in the c-c-c-corridor... my cl-cl-classes have b-b-been k-k-kinda weird."

He nodded. "Super weird about the corridor. Wasn't that where we were racing yesterday? Imagine if we'd still been there."

She let out a nervous laugh. "It w-w-would have b-b-b-been bad."

Okay, he still wasn't getting anything from this. If she was pissed off at him, she sure wasn't telling him why. He figured he'd better just come out and say something. "Listen, Tina... did I do something wrong?"

Her head flew up and she looked straight at him, eyes wide. "N-no! Y-y-you're... it w-w-was gr-gr-great... it's j-j-j-just... m-m-maybe we should b-b-be c-c-careful... we're f-f-f-friends and I d-d-don't want to m-m-mess it up. So maybe w-w-we st-st-stay friends... for n-n-now."

This was the worst he'd heard her stutter in awhile. Usually, he barely even noticed it, as it seemed to calm down a lot when it was just them talking. It came out more when she was uncomfortable or upset and right now, she was clearly both. He frowned. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, almost frantically. "I'm f-f-f-fine... I j-j-just d-d-don't w-w-want to l-l-lose you, Artie." Her eyes seemed to plead at him to not push her, not ask anymore questions. And it nearly broke his heart.

Slowly, he nodded in reply. "You're not gonna lose me, Tee. If you just want to be friends, then that's what we'll do." He offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, trying to conceal his disappointment that what he'd hoped was a big step forward seemed to have blown up in his face.


	7. Chapter 7: Santana

*plugs ficathon again* - signups open til August 10, please do check it out!

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Chapter 7

_/Santana always treats her like shit/ I don't get this/ she's really pale/ she should have woken up by now/ come on, Tee/ please, Tee/ why won't anyone tell me anything?/ I'm sorry, Tina, I should have been there/ wake up/ this is fucking crazy/ where are we going, anyway?/ Mike drives like a maniac/ I shouldn't have reacted the way I did/ there's something going on here, something I don't understand/ she was trying to be honest/ maybe I missed something/ I don't know what I missed/ she's so still... come on, Tina.../_

_/she's looking at him again/ he's a nice guy/ he wouldn't hurt her, would he?/ the way he looks at her/ it's sweet/ they'd be good together/ would she tell him?/ would she want to tell him?/ she has to know that telling him would be incredibly stupid/ I don't think he'd take it well/ but he wouldn't want to hurt her/ he wouldn't put her in danger/ he wouldn't put __**us**__ in danger/ she might not tell him/ you know she cares about him/ why do I feel like this is going to end badly?/ I haven't seen for sure/ I guess I just have to let this pan out/ there's nothing I can do/_

_/I wonder if I can fit my whole fist in my mouth/ or maybe my foot/ do you know who has big feet? Kurt/ Kurt has big feet/ you know what they say about big feet/ big shoes/ big dick!/ Kurt is capital G Gay so no dick for you/ oooh, puppies!/ they're so fuzzy and sweet/ could I fit a puppy in my mouth?/ no, I think that's a legal/ maybe not in Canada, though/ Canada is strange/ I went to Canada one time so I know it's real/_

_/I hate the fact that she can still look that pretty while pregnant/ seeing her with Finn is pure emotional torment/ it's the quintessential tale of star-crossed lovers/ except I don't recall Romeo getting anyone pregnant/ nor do I condone suicide as a legitimate means of dealing with heartbreak and loss/ does anyone else think that maybe all Juliet needed to do was sing out her emotions in a heartfelt ballad?/ that always makes me feel better/_

_/my arms hurt/ I can't believe Artie has to do this every day/ I really admire him/ I had no idea how hard this was/ he's really incredible/ to deal with this every day and still keep a smile on his face/ I don't think he knows just how incredible he is/ and his smile is just adorable/ okay, that's your best friend you're thinking about/ best friend with incredible smile and adorable geekiness and/ Santana, get out of my head or I swear I will blow something up during a pep rally/ _

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuck," Santana moaned as she opened her eyes to a harsh, bright light. "I feel like shit."

"You've been out for nearly 24 hours," a voice informed her. She turned in the direction of the voice and blinked a few times until Mike's form became visible. "No wonder you feel like shit."

Santana tried to push herself up in what she now recognized as the bed in the Chang's spare room but her arms weren't quite up to the challenge. Mike helped steady her and she gingerly sat up, resting against the headrest. "24 hours, you've got to be fucking with me."

"You're remarkably vulgar when you first wake up," another voice commented. Santana looked up to see Mrs. Chang standing in the doorway, a look of relief on her face despite the sarcastic comment. "Welcome back to the land of the living, sweetheart. You gave us all a scare."

"Please don't tell me you've been sitting here all this time, waiting for me to wake up," Santana commented wryly. "Cos that's fucking creepy."

"I knew when you were going to wake up," Mike informed her. He tapped his head. "Super powers, remember?"

"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Chang asked, handing Santana a glass of water.

Santana took a long drink before answering. "Kind of like I've been stampeded by Rachel Berry on Vitamin D."

Mike cracked up. Mrs. Chang just looked confused. "You should probably eat something. I'm going to make you some soup. You stay right there, okay?"

Santana smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Chang." With that, the older woman left and Santana focused her attention on Mike. "So. What did I miss?"

"Well, Tina didn't burn down the school completely," Mike began.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Well, that sucks."

"And she and Artie had some kind of 'just friends' talk," said Mike, his tone very, very neutral.

Santana rolled her eyes again. "Sure. Because the 'just friends' talk always ends up well." She smoothed down the skirt of the Cheerio's uniform she was still wearing, and clearly had been for nearly 2 days now. Ugh. She probably stank. "But stuff with Artie is fine? He doesn't remember anything?"

"Doesn't seem like it," said Mike, shaking his head. "Tina's pretty upset about the whole situation and seeing as he still remembers the date, she did the 'just friends' thing to keep herself safe, I guess. Things are going to be awkward there for awhile."

"Awkward we can handle," Santana said. "As long as Tina's okay and we're not in serious shit because loudmouth on wheels knows too much."

"We may have another problem, though," Mike said cautiously, looking at the door to make sure neither of his parents were in earshot. "Someone else knows about us."

Santana nearly jumped off the bed in surprise. "WHAT? You wait to tell me this NOW?"

"It might not be a bad thing," Mike rushed to explain. "We realized Tina left her wheelchair in the corridor that caught fire and were worried someone would find it and connect the fire to us."

"Oh fuck."

"But when we get to Glee rehearsal, there's Tina's wheelchair, completely fine, with a note hidden under the seat, basically saying that someone was looking out for Tina but that she needed to be more careful. And then, get this, the note dissolves into dust the minute Tina's finished reading it. I swear, it was some freaky shit."

Santana frowned. "What the hell does that mean? We're being careful. And does that mean they know about all three of us, or just Tina?"

Mike shrugged. "I don't know. But it might be something we should investigate."

"How?"

Mike looked at her carefully. "When you've rested up a bit – and I'm serious about that, you're not jumping right into this after what just went down – maybe you should start listening in on people's thoughts more during Glee."

Santana thought about it for a moment. "Why during Glee?" she asked finally. "I mean, it could be anyone."

"The wheelchair was a Glee thing," Mike offered. "It's as good a place as any to start. Just... be careful, okay?"

Santana nodded. She wasn't about to admit that she listened in on people's thoughts during Glee sometimes out of sheer boredom. Not all the time and not everyone, but occasionally it was entertaining to listen in on Brittany's internal monologue, or Rachel's self-important diatribes, or Tina's kind of ridiculously cute thoughts about Artie. Except she kept catching her, which was a bit of a pain. Still, she could make more of an effort to listen in to other people. Maybe one of them was behind the note.

"Michael, don't exhaust her, she's still not a hundred percent, I can tell," said Mrs. Chang as she entered with a tray containing a bowl of chicken and sweetcorn soup, a glass of orange juice and a bowl of noodles. "You just eat what you can," she told Santana. "Then you can borrow some pajamas and get some more sleep. I've talked to your parents, you're staying here for a few more days so I can keep an eye on you. No school for you tomorrow, either." She patted Santana reassuringly on the shoulder. "I can get you a towel if you'd like to have a shower before bed? Poor thing, you look exhausted."

Mrs. Chang's fussing over her was something she'd just had to get used to over the years. Her own parents weren't exactly the most hands on – her dad worked a night shift, her mom worked a day shift so at any given time, her parents were either working or asleep. It wasn't that they didn't care, it was just that they were busy. Seeing as Mrs. Chang had looked after her multiple times when she was a kid, the Lopez parents thought nothing of the fact that she spent a shitload of time at the Changs, and her being unwell and looked after by Mrs. Chang was absolutely nothing to bat an eyelid at. Mrs. Chang always knew exactly what to say to alleviate any worry without mentioning the more unusual aspects of Santana's condition.

It was good to have the adult Changs on their side, so maybe whoever it was who'd left Tina the note would be a help to them as well. But with everything the Changs had drilled into them about keeping their abilities a secret and not spending too much time together in public so as not to attract attention, Santana couldn't help but feel more than a little terrified that somehow, someone had found them out.


	8. Chapter 8: Mike

Sorry I haven't been updating as quickly. I still have many, many plans for this story, I've just got lots to organise in the next little while. I'm a singer/songwriter with gigs coming up, I'm organising the ArTina ficathon (which you should check out if you haven't, see my profile for details) and it's my birthday in less than two weeks, so I've got a party to plan. My flatmate and I share a birthday and are having a massive blow-out glam rock extravaganza party. I'm insanely excited, cos I love birthdays, especially mine.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter :)

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Chapter 8

Mike had gotten pretty observant over the years. Sure, some of it was due to his ability but some of it was just through sitting back and watching. He wasn't exactly the most out-going person in the world and it was easier sometimes to sit back and let things happen. Which always made it interesting when he saw something that would happen if something else happened and found himself forced to take action. Sure, he could do it if he wanted to, but he wasn't really a 'take action' kind of guy if he didn't have to. He was happy to watch. And through that, he noticed things other people sometimes didn't.

He noticed that during the Proud Mary number, Artie and Tina had managed to slip back into their usual friendship with ease but the minute they weren't performing, there was a palatable tension in the air between them. Several times, Mike caught Tina looking at Artie with a heartbroken expression on her face when Artie wasn't looking at her. Other times, when Tina wasn't looking, Artie would be staring at her, looking a little lost and not too far off heartbroken himself. And then there were the looks Artie would occasionally shoot Mike himself. Looks that clearly spoke of jealousy, which Mike wasn't sure exactly what to do about.

He and Tina had been spending more time together openly during Glee rehearsals and at school. Mike had been worried about Tina since the corridor incident and had resolved to keep a closer eye on her, be there for her more. He'd hoped they'd kept it subtle but from Artie's murderous glances, they hadn't pulled it off. Mike wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to Artie's jealousy so he didn't. He just kept on keeping an eye on Tina, making sure she wasn't alone too much. There were still too many pictures in his head of awful things happening to her, things he'd seen happen to her in a future he'd hopefully avoided. Killed in cold blood, put down like an animal because of what she could do. Her dead body hanging from the ceiling of her garage, eyes lifeless, a hastily scribbled note on the floor below her dangling feet. Crying hysterically for hours over Lily's dead body.

The memories hurt too much to dwell on for too long. Mike would continue to ignore Artie's obvious jealousy because as much as it sucked to have Artie so clearly annoyed at him, Mike would rather that than anything happening to Tina. And that wasn't something he could explain to Artie anytime soon. The whole Artie/Tina situation kind of sucked and the last thing Mike wanted was to be blamed as some kind of contributing factor to the weirdness by the other Glee kids. The other day, he was sure he saw Kurt and Mercedes whispering together about something then shooting looks at Artie, then Tina, then him.

Then again, relationship drama was a great cover-up for super powers.

Mike finally got a chance to talk to his dad about everything properly a few days after everything started to calm down. Mike's dad was a level-headed guy and listened as Mike laid out the entire situation, including everything he'd seen, and didn't comment until he'd gotten the full story. Mike appreciated that, considering that lately he seemed to be surrounded by people who'd get half the story and jump in with some kind of ridiculous, completely off-the-wall comment. He guess he got the 'let's find out everything then make a decision' gene from his father.

Once Mike had explained everything, his dad was silent for awhile, before asking a few questions to clarify the situation. "So when you saw an alternate future, Lily was actually able to repair spinal cord damage? Obviously, the way it was done isn't an option if it kills Lily, but the fact that she was able to is interesting to know. It's something to look into." Off Mike's look, he raised his hands. "Mike. You know I would never, ever, ever do anything to put you or your sister in any danger. But in the interests of science, it's something I'd like to investigate."

Mike's parents had both been scientists and pretty damn good ones, too. They'd been involved in research on genetics and evolution, looking into how humans could evolve and become something more than human. At the stage they were researching, it was really only a theory, and a theory that was kind of mocked by modern science but was secretly receiving a lot of funding. It was all very X-men, science fiction, that sort of thing. But the Changs very much enjoyed it, seeing as they were both really into science fiction and the idea that something like this could actually exist was fascinating, though apparently not very realistic. There was a lot of speculation and research that went on before one day, completely out of the blue, they found themselves a test subject. A young man who could manipulate water. He could draw it out of the air and put it in a glass. It seemed like a cool party trick at first.

Until someone realized how much of the human body was made of water, after the young man lost control and all but mummified one of the scientists. Then all hell broke lose. The guy was locked up, experiments kept going but with him more or less in a coma. In the end, the guy died and they dissected him to get some kind of insight into what the hell was going on. And though there were rumors, the whole operation was covered up. No one wanted this information going public.

Realizing there was no way in hell this could be some kind of one-off occurrence, more money went into the program. As well as keeping it completely under wraps, there were also people whose jobs were to investigate weird, abnormal occurrences around the country and keep tabs on the people concerned. If they found evidence of an ability, that person was brought in for testing and all but disappeared. Mike's parents were involved in testing of people with abilities but were finding the things they had to do to other human beings more than slightly morally questionable. Around then was when Mike's mother got pregnant.

And that's when things started to get a little weird. Mike's mother had tried to explain it in scientific terms but Mike didn't fully grasp the technicalities. What he did grasp, however, was that while his mother was pregnant with him, somehow she ended up with access to his abilities. When she was about 4 months pregnant, she started to see things. And one of the things she saw was that if Mike's parents stayed where they were, the people they worked with would find out Mike had an ability and they'd be forced to give him up. Not to mention the entire phenomenon would have to be studied. Mike's mother didn't give too many details but sometimes Mike dreamed about a place where his mother was locked up in a huge glass cage, monitored while she bore child after child for her workmates to experiment on. A lot of the time when he dreamed, he couldn't tell his fictional nightmares from the real ones but something in the tone in his mother's voice when she finally told him all this made him believe that this one was all too real.

Leaving the job to move to small town Ohio when Mike's mother was 4 months pregnant didn't cause too much of a stir. There were, of course, contracts to sign and vows of secrecy to maintain, but the organization they worked provided paperwork and documentation for both of them to practice as doctors in Ohio (they were completely overqualified, of course, but it was a logical choice), as well as a fabricated work history so they could easily find work. Mike's visions passing on to his mother had saved them from an unthinkable future. No one within the organization suspected anything.

Over the years since then, the organization had grown bigger, though it was still kept hidden from the general public. Those who claimed it existed were written off as conspiracy theorists, or in extreme cases, 'taken care of'. The Changs kept an ear to the ground for new developments, partially due to keeping their family safe but also due to a keen desire for knowledge. After all, it had been their lives for years before Mike came along. That was how they found out about Sue Sylvester.

Apparently, high schools were an extremely common place to find people with abilities. What with hormones running wild, abilities were most likely to manifest themselves during that particular age group. Sue was on the lookout for anything unusual and, not only that, there was every chance she knew exactly who the Changs were, given their involvement. Which was why the Changs suggested that Mike, Santana and Tina keep their distance at school. If they were seen to be a group, it might raise questions. Mike had discovered Santana's abilities first, back when they were in elementary school together, through his visions, and it wasn't until middle school that he found out about Tina. By that stage, social status was so ingrained that it would be completely strange for them to all suddenly be friends, which is why Tina stayed an outcast, despite Mike and Santana's best attempts to keep an eye out for her without drawing too much attention to their friendship.

The good thing about the Glee club, aside from the fact that it meant exposed contact with Sue Sylvester, due to her vendetta, was that it gave Mike and Santana a chance to keep a closer eye on Tina. Which meant that things were getting easier for her, which could only be a good thing.

"Investigate how?" Mike asked, curious despite himself.

His dad looked thoughtful. "Your mother and I have been continuing research on our own since we left. Nothing anywhere near as complex as what we were doing, of course, but closer to our original aims. To see if these abilities can be harnessed to help people. Lily's ability is something we've been working on since she was born but it's nothing something we want to test the extent of, because it could be dangerous. As your vision proves. Still, there could be ways." He looked at Mike seriously. "We could help your friend. Carefully, of course. Slowly, so as not to attract too much suspicion. But it's possible. There's research in the area anyway and maybe we can use what Lily can do as a sort of catalyst... it's hard to explain. I'll have to look into it further."

"It could go really badly," said Mike, frowning. "I mean, we don't know."

"Your abilities got us out of a potentially disastrous situation before," his dad pointed out. "I don't understand what you can do fully, son, but I have faith that you can keep us safe. Keep everyone safe. Like you've done so far."

Mike couldn't help but feel that was a hell of a lot of pressure.


	9. Chapter 9: Tina

LAST CHANCE to sign up for the ArTina ficathon, guys! Links on my profile, if you're keen, get in touch soon! You should also check out my tumblr while you're at it. I assume Glee fans are mostly music fans, I'm a singer/songwriter, if you scroll down you'll find some videos of recent performances - .com

And here's some more fic :)

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Chapter 9: Tina III

"Breathe. Concentrate on your breathing. Clear your mind. All your thoughts, your worries... acknowledge them but let them go. Just focus on your breathing. Relax and focus."

A deep breath in... _the look on Artie's face before he wheeled away from her in the corridor._ A long breath out... _shattered glass raining down on her_. A deep breath in... _I j-j-just d-d-don't w-w-want to l-l-lose you... _A long breath out_... If Artie finds out about us, things will end badly. I can see it. _A deep breath in_... This isn't just your life you're screwing around with, Tina. _A long breath out.._.I'm sorry, too. Because now you get to be normal..._

"This feels really weird, Mrs. Chang."

Tina opened her eyes to look up at the older woman, who was as calm and collected as always. "It does seem weird at first, but trust me on this, sweetheart. If you practice calming yourself down, you'll be much better at controlling your abilities. And that's going to make things so much easier for you. Not to mention it'll probably save the school a lot of money, seeing as they won't have to replace their light bulbs so often."

"It's just... sitting quietly is more or less second nature to me," said Tina hesitantly. "But even though I don't say much, I'm always thinking things. It's hard not to, you know?"

Mrs. Chang nodded. "I'm much the same. When I was at college, I just couldn't get my mind to stop to get any sleep and it really didn't help me at all. I was a mess. My roommate taught me some meditation techniques and, despite the fact that I had absolutely no desire to buy into her new-age hippy lifestyle, the techniques actually helped." Her expression grew serious. "Not only that, Tina, but we know that these abilities are triggered by stress and uncontrolled emotion. You've got a lot going on and I respect that, so we need to find ways to deal with that. Maybe this meditation will help."

Tina sighed. "I really don't think focusing on my breathing is going to help make things less awkward around Artie."

There was a knowing look on Mrs. Chang's face. "Aha. I had a feeling that was the main issue here. You understand why Santana had to make him forget, don't you? Because of what could have happened."

Tina looked down at her boots. "I understand, it doesn't mean I like it."

"I'm not too fond of it myself," Mrs. Chang admitted. "But given the circumstances, it seemed like the best idea. Mike did what he thought he had to do. He feels responsible for both you and Santana and makes decisions based on what he sees. I can't honestly say whether or not he made the right decision, but I trust his judgment. And I trust that he did what he believed was right."

"It's not even really that," said Tina, trying to keep her voice from wavering too much. "It's that... I tried to tell him about what I could do because I wanted to be honest and Santana stopped me. Then he found out something anyway and Santana made him forget. And I don't feel I can be with him and not be honest with him. I just... I can't. So I told him we should just be friends and it's killing me, because he seems so hurt that we're just friends, it's like I rejected him. I don't want to... I really don't want to... but if I can never tell him, I can't be with him. I just can't do it."

Mrs. Chang patted her arm comfortingly. "Tina, sweetie... I don't think we can say definitely that you can never tell him. No one's forbidding you from ever telling him. Who knows, maybe one day you can. But for the time being, it's best to keep it quiet. And I think the most important thing you need to focus on at the moment is harnessing your abilities. Because that's what's holding you back. You can do these amazing things but at the moment, the abilities are controlling you. You're not controlling them. And you need to learn to do that."

"I know," Tina said, a little embarrassed. "I just don't know how breathing is going to help."

"Well, how about we try and test out what you can do?" suggested Mrs. Chang. She gestured across the room to the sofa, covered in small cushions. "I want you to focus on moving that heart-shaped cushion. We'll start with getting it to move and then we'll work on moving it where _you_ want it to go. You're going to need to focus. Put aside any other thoughts and just focus on making the cushion move."

Tina pushed her hair out of her face and stared at the cushion for a long moment, willing it to move. It didn't budge. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then another. As she felt the tension in her shoulders start to relax for what felt like first time since her date with Artie, she watched as the cushion floated into the air. She smiled and concentrated on bringing it toward her. Steadily, the cushion flew into her hands. She grinned. "Did you see that? I did it!"

"You did! Now keep practicing!"

She hadn't been able to just do things when she wanted to before. To be honest, she hadn't really tried. Her abilities frightened her, especially because they usually came out when she was upset and in somewhat destructive ways. The number of things she'd destroyed by accident when she was upset or angry was pretty high – her parents just thought she was clumsy and had all but given up on letting her anywhere near expensive dinnerware. But knowing that she could make things happened because she wanted to... it was a bit of a high. Tina spent the next hour moving cushions around the Changs living room, before Mrs. Chang suggested she take a break and offered that she stay for dinner. She declined, claiming she should spend some time with her parents and hugged Mrs. Chang goodbye before heading home.

Her parents weren't there, as per the plan. As much as she loved the Changs and her own parents, this new found control of what she could do was something she wanted to explore on her own. Flying cushions around the room was fun but she wanted to try other things. Surveying the clothes strewn around the floor, Tina took in a few calming breaths and focused on moving the clothes. If she could pull of a Mary Poppins-esque hands free room cleaning, it could be pretty cool.

After moving clothes from floor to laundry basket, then attempting to figure out how she get could her clothes to fold themselves, Tina figured it was time for a break and headed to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. As she looked at the clock on the microwave, she frowned. She'd gotten back from the Changs at around 5, it was now nearly quarter to ten. She couldn't have spent that much time working on her abilities, could she? Shaking her head, she pulled a container of leftover Chinese food out of the fridge. She must have miscalculated. Or just gotten carried away. She tried not to think about it and dug into the cold noodles before heading back to her room to see if she could finally crack this clothes folding thing.

Tina woke up to the sound of her alarm. Groggily, she sat up and found herself fully clothed, on top of her bed as opposed to under the covers. She frowned and looked at the clock. It was definitely time to be up. She couldn't actually remember going to sleep but if she didn't get ready soon, she'd miss school. Due to the pounding headache behind her eyes, the first thing she did was head to the medicine cabinet and down some extra strength aspirin, in the hopes that it would make the day more bearable. Tina had never had a hangover before but she was pretty sure it would kind of feel like this.

On her walk to school, she tried not to worry about the chunks of missing time too much. Evidently, she'd gotten a little carried away with her super hero cleaning spree. She'd just have to be more careful from now on. It took more out of her than she realised. But aside from the headache, she felt fine. More than fine, even. She felt great. The whole testing her abilities thing had managed to take her mind off the drama with Artie, and really, it was for the best that she learn to get things under control. For everyone's sake. _Still_, she reasoned, _maybe I'd better give the super power thing a rest for awhile_.

That held up all well and good until the end of first period, when she caught sight of Artie rolling down the corridor and a jock in a jacket carrying a slushie, heading straight in his direction. There wasn't time to physically intervene, even if she'd wanted to, but there was something she could do. She took in a calming breath.

There was a splash and a yelp from the jacket-clad jock, now wearing the very slushie he'd intended to throw at Artie.

All the surrounding students burst out laughing as the extremely confused and covered in corn syrup jock headed for the men's room. All except Artie, who just sat there in his chair, clearly not knowing why on earth a jock had just inadvertently slushied himself.

Tina approached him, careful not to slip on the mess on the floor. "You okay?" she asked.

Artie looked up at her and nodded, still obviously dazed. "I'm fine, I... did Karofsky seriously just slushie himself? What the hell is going on?"

Tina shrugged. "I h-h-have no idea. Come on, you have ch-chem, right?"

He nodded again in confirmation and she took the handles of his wheelchair, pushing him down the hallway with a satisfied grin on her face.


	10. Chapter 10: Artie

Chapter 10: Artie III

By lunch, there had been 3 failed slushie attempts by various jocks and the whole school was buzzing. Artie, being the first non-victim, was being constantly asked questions about the situation and it was getting a little old. As he rolled up to the table where he, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt always had lunch, Jacob Ben Israel stopped him, dictaphone in hand.

"Artie, what's your explanation for the self-slushie phenomenon going on today? Witnesses report that you were the intended victim of this first slushie, that David Karofsky attempted to throw at you but ended up throwing at himself."

"I have absolutely no idea what happened," Artie replied truthfully. "And frankly, I'm a little sick of people asking questions, so if you'd excuse me, I'd like to go eat my lunch in peace."

"The two other intended victims, Kurt Hummel and Tina Cohen-Chang, are friends of yours, correct?" Jacob asked.

Artie sighed. "Yes. You know this, Jacob. Can you please just leave me alone?"

"So, is it possible that this is some kind of Glee club conspiracy? The Glee club has, after all, been the target of slushies more often than any other group, and it does seem strange that three members of the Glee clubs are involved in this."

"Jacob, listen to yourself," Artie snapped. "How on earth could any of us have caused jocks to slushie themselves instead of us? Maybe they're just clumsy today."

"Or maybe there's something more sinister going on," Jacob argued.

"Like what?" Artie asked. "Give me a logical explanation."

"That's easy," Jacob replied. "Blackmail of some sort. Someone has something on one of the jocks, one of you Glee club kids, and as revenge, you're blackmailing them into slushie-ing themselves."

Artie raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"This is only a theory, of course."

"I'm going to eat my lunch now."

Jacob followed Artie to the table where Mercedes, Kurt and Tina were sitting. All three of them rolled their eyes as Jacob approached. "Beat it, Jew-Fro," said Mercedes. "I ain't answering any more of your questions. None of us have any idea what's going on."

"I wouldn't think any of you have the imagination for this sort of blackmail," Jacob said, glaring at Mercedes. He then fixed Kurt with a look. "Except you, Mr. Hummel. You've slushied yourself in the past. You're an obvious culprit."

"Whoa, b-b-blackmail?" said Tina with a grin, picking her sandwich. "D-d-do you really think s-s-o, Jacob?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense," replied Jacob.

"Baring some kind of super power," Artie joked.

Tina, who'd just taken a bite of her sandwich, gave a start and started to splutter. Mercedes stood up and came around behind her, patting her on the back until she recovered. "You okay, girl?"

"I'm f-f-fine," she said, blushing slightly. "It's just r-r-really silly. Super p-p-p-powers?"

"Hey, I like comic books," Artie protested. "It makes sense if you're me."

Jacob sighed. "I'm getting nowhere with you people. But don't worry. I will find out and it will be gracing the blogosphere as soon as I do."

As Jacob headed off, the four of them exchanged a look. "So," ventured Artie, once he was sure Jacob was out of earshot, "any theories about what's going on? That don't involve blackmail or the X-men?"

"You can put it all down to performance anxiety," snickered Kurt. Mercedes cracked up laughing and playfully swatted him on the arm.

Tina smiled, and Artie noticed she was still a little flushed from the earlier sandwich incident. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm f-f-fine." She blushed. "I must have l-l-looked totally st-st-stupid."

"You never look stupid to me," said Artie, without thinking. He regretted saying the words out loud the minute they'd left his mouth and would have kicked himself had it been physically possible. What was wrong with him? Tina had made it clear she just wanted to be friends and the amount of time she was spending with Mike Chang was a pretty clear indication that any feelings she might have had for Artie were either gone or no longer mattered. She blushed at his words, and ducked her head forward, a curtain of blue and black covering her face not totally obscuring a smile. A smile that gave him hope, despite everything.

God, he was an idiot.

"Seriously, though, I just don't get it, guys," said Mercedes, breaking through Artie's thoughts. "Karofsky and some other goon were there with slushies, about to throw them at me and Tina when all of a sudden, they just throw them in their own faces. It was possibly one of the greatest moments of high school but I really, really don't get it."

"That means Karofsky got slushied twice today?" said Kurt with a chuckle. "Oh man. That's rough by our standards. And you can bet he has no idea how to get corn syrup out of his hair successfully. He's going to be sticky for the rest of the day."

"I think he ruined his jacket," commented Mercedes. "This place is turning into the freaking Twilight Zone."

"Mercedes, please don't tell me you read that crap."

"The Twilight Zone is a TV show," Artie added helpfully. "No sparkly vampires. No longing stares. Just... other weird shit."

"Oh, thank Gucci."

"Kurt," said Mercedes, rolling her eyes. "Give me a little credit." She turned back toward Tina and Artie. "I mean, think about it, guys, it's been weird recently. There was that fire in the hallway – rumor has it they have no idea how it started, but it looks like the light bulbs just exploded. I mean, that's some freaky shit right there. And then there's jocks slushie-ing themselves..." She paused for dramatic effect. "Maybe McKinley is haunted."

There was a moment of silence, then Tina and Kurt cracked up laughing. "You've got to be k-k-k-kidding."

"How is that a legitimate theory and we're completely ruling out people with super powers?" asked Artie with a grin. "I mean, there's actual scientific evidence for steps in human evolution where ordinary people gain extraordinary abilities."

"Someones been watching Heroes again," said Kurt, with a roll of his eyes.

"You watched Heroes?" Mercedes asked.

"Sweetie, have you seen Milo Ventimiglia? I wouldn't mind him flying through my window late at night."

"It s-s-s-seems a little f-f-far-fetched," said Tina, frowning. "You're n-n-not s-s-serious, are you, Artie?"

"I doubt that people with super powers are going to pop up in Lima, Ohio," said Artie thoughtfully. "But in terms of whether it's possible... I think it could be, yeah. Maybe one day."

"You just wanna prance around in a cape and your underwear outside your clothes, don't you Wheels?" teased Mercedes.

"I'd settle for just being able to prance," he replied automatically. The table went deathly quiet and Mercedes looked incredibly guilty. "Sorry. I guess that wasn't funny."

"No, I... I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry, Artie," said Mercedes, looking at him with such pity that it kind of made him want to rip her eyes out. Yes, he couldn't prance, so to speak, and it sucked, but the last thing he wanted was pity. The whole Glee club in wheelchairs for the week wasn't about them pitying him, it was about understanding that things were hard, not feeling sorry for him because they were... all of a sudden, the room felt a little claustrophobic.

"It's fine, Mercedes," he said as kindly as he could. He made a show of looking at his watch. "You know what, I've got a couple of things I need to sort out before next period, I'll catch you guys later." With that, he wheeled away from the table, leaving three stunned friends behind him.

He headed to the men's room to collect himself a bit and sat in a cubicle reading over his history notes for the next ten minutes, trying to get his emotions under control. Artie just didn't deal with pity too well, which was a pain considering he got it awfully often. They didn't really mean anything by it, Mercedes hadn't even meant to say anything offensive and it wasn't, not really. It was just... another reminder he didn't need.

The door to the bathroom opened and he heard a familiar, very irritated female voice. "This is disgusting. Why'd we have to meet in here?"

"Cos there's no way I'm going in the girl's bathroom," replied another, male voice. There was a pause and some footsteps, then another pause. "Okay, I think we're good."

"Make it quick, Chang, otherwise I'm going to have to rip off the crazy guidance counsellors cleaning kit to disinfect myself. What's the problem?"

"You've heard about the self-slushie thing, right?" asked the voice Artie now recognised as Mike.

"Of course I have," snapped back the female voice, which Artie thought was... Santana?

"I think it's Tina."

Whoa. What the hell? Artie froze, now insanely paranoid they were going to realise he was there. What did Mike mean? How the hell could it be Tina?

"Tina blows things up," said Santana incredulously. "She never does anything intentionally, it's all just.. reaction."

"Well, what if this is reaction?" Mike pointed out. "They were trying to slushie her, and Mercedes. And Artie. And we know how she feels about him."

"Don't get me started," Santana muttered. "This hasn't happened before, though. And now three times in a day?"

"She's been working on controlling it," Mike said cautiously. "My mom said she was doing well. Maybe she did do it on purpose."

"Well, you need to talk to her," said Santana. "You need to tell her that she can't do this, it's bringing too much attention on her." Artie could hear a sigh. It sounded almost sad. "It's not like she'll listen to me anymore. Not after what happened with Artie."

"You did what you had to do," said Mike. "We both did."

There was another pause. "We shouldn't be talking here," said Santana. "We'll meet up tonight. After Glee. If we both talk to her, maybe she'll listen."

"Speaking of Glee... remember what we talked about?"

"Don't worry, I'm on it. We'll figure it out. I'll listen in. Now let's get out of here."

Artie heard footsteps, the door opening again then closing with a bang. He closed his eyes and tried to process what the hell he'd just overheard.


	11. Chapter 11: Santana

Chapter 11: Santana III

"Santana. My office. Now."

From where she was standing by Brittany's locker, Santana turned in the direction of the familiar voice of Sue Sylvester. "Sure, coach." She turned back to Brittany, who looked at her sympathetically.

"You want me to come too?"

Santana shook her head. "It's fine. She just asked for me, so I'd better go alone. I'll meet you at Glee rehearsal, okay?"

Brittany nodded and headed down the hallway. Santana sighed and headed into Sue's office.

Sue, like the ninja Santana suspected she might be, was already sitting in her office chair, like a queen on a throne. Well, more like a president about to bomb a small country. She gestured for Santana to sit.

"You've missed two Cheerios practice. That concerns me. I heard from your mother that you had some kind of stomach bug, which I assume she thought was excuse enough, but from now on in, I want you at Cheerios practice even if you're throwing up your insides, bleeding all over the floor or still "recovering" from major surgery. Do you understand?"

Santana nodded. "I promise, it won't happen again, Coach."

Sue locked eyes with her. "I know it won't. You're my smoking gun, Santana. As the head of this squad, I need you to be setting an example. Not only that, but you're in a position of power. You are the social elite. And that comes with responsibilities. Not only do you need to keep order around here, but you also need to keep an eye out at all times for anything that might threaten your position." She crossed her arms and leaned back on her chair. "That's why I need you to step it up a notch at Glee club. Yes, I want that festering pile of mouth breathers destroyed, but not only that, I want them crushed. Individually. Every last one of them. I don't want any of them getting ideas that they're more than what they are, which is the bottom feeders in the perilious ocean that is the high school experience."

Santana knew what the cheer-leading coach was really doing in Lima, thanks to warning from the Changs and a little probing of her own. Not that she'd dare try to do anything to Sue but she had listened in a few times, as carefully as possible, to know that a 6th consecutive national title wasn't the only thing Sue had her sights on. Fortunately, Santana was more or less on the inner circle. Since Quinn was kicked off, Santana was head cheerleader and pretty much ruled the school. No one dared mess with her. No one except Sue Sylvester. Santana knew it was in her best interests to keep Sue's focus on destroying the Glee club, rather than what she was actually there for – looking for students displaying abnormal behavior. As long as she was hung up on some personal vendetta, it made things easier for all of them.

"What do you want me to do?" Santana asked.

"I want you to find out if any of your little friends were responsible for the fire in the corridor last week," said Sue evenly. "It's suspicious. And it's not too far from the choir room. It also took place after school, and seeing that I know for a fact that a lot of those pathetic children hang out around after school to practice show tunes in the auditorium in some vain attempt to escape the misery that is their lives, that makes them all suspects."

Santana smiled, trying to project as assured an image as she could to the iron willed cheer-leading coach. "I'll look into it. Is there anything else?"

Sue just looked at her for a moment, eyes hard and almost searching. Santana resisted the urge to bite her lip anxiously. Finally, Sue spoke. "Yes. Since you've missed so many practices, I want 15 laps from you after tomorrow's practice. As an example."

Santana nodded. "Fine." She looked over at the clock. "Glee rehearsal is starting. I'd better get started."

"Don't let me down."

She nodded again and left the office, trying desperately to keep her cool. Sue unnerved her. Just knowing that she could find out about them and would take them away to get tested in God knows what kind of ways freaked her out more than she could imagine. Sure, if Sue ever found out, maybe she could take care of it. But maybe not. She'd brought the subject up with Mr. Chang once and he'd mentioned his theory that by now, the organization looking for people like Mike, Santana and Tina would have ways to counter abilities being used on them. Not that it completely ruled out the possibility. Just that it wasn't something anyone should count on.

Santana arrived at the choir room at the same time as Mike and Matt. Mike's presence, plus Sue's earlier comments, reminded her of what Mike had suggested after she came out of her Artie induced 24 hour cat nap. Listen in on the Glee kids. Not only might she found out who'd found Tina's wheelchair, she might also find some incriminating tidbits she could feed to Coach Sylvester to get her off her back. A part of her felt guilty about using her fellow Glee members like that but if it was a case of her or them, she was definitely picking her. She was picking her, and Mike, and Tina. And Brittany. As far as she was concerned, the rest of them could go to any hell of Sue's choosing, as long as she kept the people she really cared about safe.

Mr. Schuester waved at her as she came in. "Santana, good to see you back. You feeling better?"

"Much better, thanks Mr. Schue."

Santana liked the Spanish teacher, she really did. Partly because as a native speaker of Spanish, she'd been excused from his class indefinitely, with the exception of helping out once a week with conversation classes, which went towards giving her a final grade instead of just not taking the course. It definitely made her transcript look a hell of a lot better, and she found she actually liked helping out with conversation classes. Mr. Schue had rightly figured she'd be better off helping out his advanced class rather than the beginners and basically, all she had to do is have conversations with Spanish with other students. Sure, it was mostly a bunch of nerds, but both Mike and Tina were in the class, so it really didn't bother her too much at all. And also, Mr. Schuester actually gave a crap about his students. That much was crystal clear. Santana bit her lip thoughtfully and decided to have a listen in on Mr. Schuester's inner monologue.

_/it's funny how the whole dynamic of the group shifts when we've got someone away/ didn't realise just how much Santana's vocals come through/ she's got a good voice, I should use it more often/ sure, she comes across as a bit of a bitch sometimes but I know that's just a cover/ I've seen her with my advanced students/ she's actually got a heart, much as Sue Sylvester is trying to stamp it out of her/ what on earth was Sue on about this morning in the staff room/ none of my kids could have had anything to do with the fire/ should I check?/ no, I don't want them to think I don't trust them/ unless Figgins makes me, I won't/ I don't owe Sue anything/ _

Santana took a seat next to Brittany and resolved to convince Figgins that the fire was a complete accident. This was getting a little too close for comfort. As Mr. Schue started on about sectionals, Santana took the opportunity to listen in on Mercedes, sitting behind her.

_/like we're gonna do anything interesting at Sectionals/ I bet he gives all the solos to Rachel and Finn/ was he even listening when we did Proud Mary?/ Artie's vocals and mine together are amazing/ poor Artie, he's still looking pretty down/ Tina seems to have cheered up a bit/ she's been spending a lot of time with Mike/ is there something going on there?/ that'd break Wheels' heart/ girl, you and I gonna have a talk about this/ gotta say, though, Mike's pretty cute/ but I really thought Tina and Artie were it/ I should so text Kurt about this/_

At the sounds of Mercedes pulling out her phone, Santana tuned out and moved on to Finn, who was a few seats left of Mercedes.

_/If I do any more duets with Rachel, Quinn's gonna scratch my eyes out/ she's like, a total mess of hormones, what with being pregnant and all/ I wonder if she's gonna get all those weird cravings/ like pickles and ice cream/ I wonder what pickles and ice cream taste like/ it could be kind of gross, but it could be awesome/ after practice, I'm gonna go buy Quinn some pickles and ice cream/ if she doesn't like it, then I can just eat it/ well, at least the ice cream/ I don't even like pickles that much/_

With a roll of her eyes, Santana tuned out. Like Finn Hudson had enough brain power to be the mastermind behind this whole thing. She looked down the row to Matt and thought for a minute. Sure, he was quiet, but didn't they say something about still waters or whatever? He could totally know something. He was Mike's best friend, maybe somehow he'd picked something up. Santana focused in on his thoughts.

_/I just needed extra time/ just extra time/ I have no idea what happened/ this is like some kind of weird comic/ did I make it stop?/ the clock wasn't moving/ the dog wasn't moving/ the **fish** weren't moving/ and I know I didn't kill them/ everything just stopped/ and when I was done, it started like nothing had happened/ that's not even possible/ was I just dreaming?/ but the essay is done/ how can the essay be done?/ you can't do an essay in your sleep/ but you can't stop time, either/ I don't know what to do/ I can't tell anyone about this/ they'll think I'm a freak/ oh god/ what do I do?/ how did I do it?/ I didn't even mean to/ I wish I could talk to someone about this/ _

With a snap, Santana came back to herself, heart pounding. She stood up shakily. "Mr. Schue, I'm not feeling so good, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom."

She bolted out of the room to Mr. Schuester's concerned "do you need someone to go with you?" and Puck's "dude, she's totally gonna puke."


	12. Chapter 12: Mike

Chapter 12: Mike

Ever since his talk with Santana, Mike had had a feeling that somehow, the shit was about to hit the fan. He had no idea why, exactly, until in the middle of chem class, while pretending to listen to the teacher drone on and on about titration, he saw it.

_/"Tina, I don't really know how to say this so I'm just going to come out and say it, I guess... I overheard Mike and Santana talking and they think that you had something to do with the whole self-slushie phenomenon. Well, more accurately, they think you did it. They said something about you blowing things up and then they mentioned me and I'm super confused but then I started thinking about how you reacted at lunch when I mentioned super powers and this is going to sound crazy but... do you have some kind of ability?" A pause. "Tina. It's just me. You can tell me."_

"_You weren't supposed to know," said Tina, clearly dazed. "Santana made you forget the last time you found out."_

_A pause. A chill in the air. "Santana did what?"_

"_I couldn't stop her-"_

"_You're telling me Santana has some kind of freaky mind powers and can make people forget things... that's... fuck, Tina, that's insane. That's... that's really not okay. She made me forget? What did she make me forget? What gave her the right to mess with my mind?" A sigh. "This is so fucked up."_

_Tears. "Artie, she was scared, she thought you'd... she... Mike saw... you would have told someone, it would have been a complete disaster, and then Lily..."_

"_So you don't trust me." _

"_From everything Mike's said, I don't know if I should."/_

"Oh fuck," he said aloud, startling his lab partner, who probably had his doubts over whether or not Mike could actually talk.

It was almost funny. They'd gone to so much trouble to keep Artie from finding out and after everything, it had been Mike and Santana who'd spilled the beans. Mike thought back to the conversation, trying to figure out exactly what was said that was incriminating, to figure out a way to spin the whole thing to make it go away. The last thing he wanted was to set Santana on Artie again. It hadn't been that long since the last time he'd had his mind played with. And given his reaction to Santana's ability, it could be a lot harder than last time.

He spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the game plan. First, intercept Tina. Talk to her about what he'd seen and figure out what they were going to tell Artie. Talk to her about the slushies as well – Santana was right, he had to be the one to talk to her. Things between Tina and Santana were still icy. And if they added what had just happened with Artie to the mix... the ingredients for a perfect storm. As shy and quiet as Tina was, underneath that was an absolute spitfire who, when sufficiently provoked, could give Santana a run for her money. The guy part of Mike's brain argued that a cat fight was totally hot but the sensible, not driven by teenage boy hormones part realized that a throw down between Santana and Tina could turn ugly very fast. Not just an argument between hot chicks. An argument between hot chicks with super powers.

Mike took a moment to imagine Santana and Tina in latex catsuits before forcing his mind back to the actual problem.

After his last class, he headed to the lockers, hoping to catch Tina before Artie did. Mike wasn't sure exactly of the time frame he had but he had a feeling this was something he needed to do quickly. No sign of Tina. Trying to avoid panic, he headed toward the choir room for Glee rehearsal. Matt fell into step with him quietly as he turned a corner.

"Sup man?" asked Mike, nodding to his friend. Matt had seemed distracted all day. "You get that history essay done? Last I heard you were stressing out about it."

"I got the essay done," Matt almost murmured, clearly still a little preoccupied. "Don't really want to think about it though."

"Rehearsal should distract you," said Mike kindly. "There's always something wacky going down."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Something wacky."

Mike inwardly laughed. _You have no idea_. They entered the choir room at the same time as Santana. Mike looked around the room and spotted Artie talking with some of the guys in the jazz band, Tina nowhere in sight. From Artie's questioning look at Mike as he walked in, Mike figured the conversation with Tina hadn't happened yet. Artie was probably still trying to process whatever it was he'd overheard. After a few minutes Tina came in. He walked up to her, passed her and subtly muttered, "we need to talk after Glee. It's important."

She nodded, eyes worried. Mike took a seat next to Matt and waited for rehearsal to start. Mr. Schuester started in on what Mike assumed was supposed to be an inspirational speech about Sectionals while next to him, Matt was fidgeting nervously. Mike frowned. His friend seemed really wound up. He was debating whether or not to ask him if he was okay when Santana abruptly stood up, announcing that she didn't feel well as she all but bolted from the room. Mike's heart nearly stopped. That was not a good sign.

"Do you need someone to go with you?" Mr. Schuester called out after her.

"Dude, she's totally gonna puke," snickered Puck.

Rachel, who was sitting next to him, rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to be so vulgar, Noah?"

Mr. Schuester frowned. "Does someone want to go check up on her? Brittany?"

Brittany shrugged. "If she's puking, I don't really want to see."

Tina stood up awkwardly. "I'll g-g-go check on her, Mr. Schue." With that, she headed out the room quietly, leaving the room full of Glee clubbers exchanged slightly surprised glances. All except Artie, who was looking at Mike, his expression unreadable.

"Right. Okay. Now, I was thinking we could work on some of our earlier numbers, making sure we've got them up to scratch for Sectionals," said Mr. Schue, evidently trying to get everyone back on track. About five minutes later, Santana and Tina returned, Tina looking noticeably pale. "You doing okay now, Santana?"

She just nodded and returned to her seat, as did Tina. Seconds later, Mike felt the familiar tingling in his head.

_/I've found something out, we all need to meet after rehearsal/_

Keeping focus throughout the rest of the practice was a struggle. Mike already felt like his head was going to explode with the situation with Artie and Tina, not to mention the nagging feeling that there was something going on with his best friend, and now whatever it was Santana had figured out. It all just seemed a bit too much. Still, he managed to get through, fading into the background as per usual. Finally when rehearsal was over, he hung around as everyone left, waiting for Santana and Tina.

Artie had stuck around, too and had approached Tina. Mike could hear him talking to her as he headed in their direction.

"Tina, we really need to talk, can we-"

"You ready to go, Tina?" Mike asked, interrupting. Artie shot him a murderous glance and Tina looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

"Sorry, Artie," she said meekly, "Mike and I have to... we're studying together. He tutors me in math."

"Come over later tonight?" Artie asked, almost desperately. "I just... really need to talk to you." He shot Mike a glare. "Alone."

Tina nodded. "Okay, I'll try... I'll text you, okay?" With that, she quickly left the room, clearly more than a little on edge.

"Sorry man," said Mike to Artie apologetically. "She's got a test and she's kind of freaking out." He followed after Tina before Artie could reply.

Santana was waiting outside the door and gestured to the parking lot. "Your car, Chang." Wordlessly, they headed out the doors into the parking lot and it wasn't until they were all piled in Mike's car that Santana finally spoke. "Okay. First. Tina. Seriously. The jocks slushie-ing themselves all day? Not smart. You can't draw that kind of attention to yourself."

"I know this. You told me already," Tina snapped. "Get to the point. You need to tell him."

Mike felt his heart speed up. "Tell me what?"

Santana looked at him directly, expression unreadable. "I'm pretty sure we've got another super-powered Glee Clubber to add to our merry band of freaks."

Mike blinked. "Who?"

Santana smirked ironically. "Matt."

Whoa. "What?"

"I was listening in," Santana explained. "And he was freaking out about how he made the clock stop. He made everything stop, cos he was trying to get an essay finished... I'm pretty sure that's proof he's got an ability. He's freaking out. He has no idea what to do about it but he's too scared to tell anyone... he's not even sure what it is he did."

Mike's head was now officially spinning. Matt had an ability? Sure, it would explain the general weirdness, but it all just seemed... unreal. Mike had known about his ability since he was a kid and had always known to keep it secret. Santana had figured out about hers quite young as well. Tina had found out about hers in 6th grade. Matt figuring this all out now... it had to be blowing his mind. Mike took in a calming breath and searched his mind to see if anything was coming up, if he was about to see anything. Nothing. Nothing to see. Just the knowledge that Matt was his friend. And he owed it to his friend to talk to him about this, to make sure he wasn't alone.

"So what do we do?" Tina asked.

"I'll talk to him," Mike said after a pause. "He's freaking out, he needs to know there are other people who get it."

Tina nodded. "Okay." She looked at her watch. "If you don't need me, then I want to go meet Artie... he seemed worried about something and things have been weird, so I really should talk to him."

"This thing with Matt isn't our biggest problem right now," said Mike, his mind coming back to his earlier worried. He looked at Tina and Santana and sighed. "Artie knows."


	13. Chapter 13: Tina

Chapter 13: Tina

Tina felt her heart drop into her feet at Mike's words. After all their effort, all the heartbreak, all the agony of keeping it from him, Artie knew. "How?" she asked.

Mike looked at Santana. "Santana and I were talking at lunch, he overheard us."

Santana groaned. "Seriously? Not only did you drag me into the guys bathroom to have a conversation, you didn't even check to make sure no one was there?"

"I checked for feet, not wheels," said Mike defensively. He looked down, more than a little embarrassed. "And I didn't check very well. I know. We didn't have much time. I wasn't thinking. I'm an idiot. I know."

"It could have been worse," Tina pointed out. "It could have been someone else who overheard you." She paused, trying to process all this information. "What exactly did he hear?"

"We were talking about the slushies,"

Tina crossed her arms and glared at Santana. "Okay. We've covered this. Multiple times now. I get it. I screwed up. But neither of you two get slushied as much as we do. If you'd been in my position, Santana, I bet you would have done the same thing, and lorded it over the entire school population for weeks."

"That's because I'm Santana fucking Lopez, I can get away with shit like that." Santana met her glare with typical Santana attitude. "You, however, can't."

"Stop acting like such a bitch," snapped Tina. "All I did was mess with some jocks. It's not a big deal."

"It is when Sue Sylvester is on the warpath, trying to find out who was responsible for that fire," Santana shot back. "You may get slushied on a regular basis but you don't have to deal with Sue. It's fucking terrifying. That woman could get all of us locked up and experimented on in a heartbeat. I'd take endless slushies over being dissected any day of the week."

The look of actual fear in Santana's eyes was enough to make Tina back down. "Okay. I'm sorry. I've said it, I'll say it again. I screwed up. I just... I was practicing controlling it, and I could, and then Karofsky was heading towards Artie with that slushie and I knew I could stop it, so I did."

Santana's expression softened slightly. "Maybe next time make him drop it, instead of throwing it in his own face. I get not wanting to be slushied but it's suspicious."

Tina turned back to Mike. "Is that all you were talking about? The slushies?"

"The slushies, and your involvement in the slushies," Mike clarified. "We may have also alluded to... the way you feel about him."

Tina blushed bright red and ducked her head to hide behind her hair. "I wish you hadn't said that."

"It's obvious to everyone," said Santana gently. "And especially to us. You care about him a lot. And the way he looked after you after you passed out after the hallway incident... he cares about you. Yes, there are reasons why we made him forget all that but maybe you can tell him. If you tell him carefully."

"What's the worst case scenario?" Tina asked Mike, almost wearily. "What do I have to avoid fucking up this time?"

Mike sighed. "He asks you point blank. You're flustered and off guard and you say some things you shouldn't. He freaks out when he finds out what Santana did, that she made him forget. That you didn't trust him."

Tina leaned back against the seat. "None of those things aren't true, Mike. From everything you've said, I don't know if I can trust him. He completely freaked out in the first time-line thing, he freaked out in the next one... this time, he's seen some weird things and he fully mentioned super powers at lunch, so I don't know if it'll come as a total shock to him this time... but I can't do anything about what Santana did."

"Don't tell him," Santana said simply.

"Well, did you mention it?" Tina asked them.

Mike sighed. "Yes. That bit was mentioned. There are holes that need to be filled. Right now, he's only heard bits and he's really confused. But if you've got a heads up and you aren't going into it blind, then maybe it'll go better. Just... be careful, okay?" Tina nodded. Mike sighed again. "You want me to drop you off at Artie's?"

Tina shook her head. "I'll walk. It'll give me time to figure things out. But thank you." She paused for a moment. "Are you going to talk to Matt?"

Mike nodded. "I have to. I can't let him go through this by himself, he's my best friend aside from you two."

Tina smiled wryly. "Maybe now you see where I'm coming from. Matt's your best friend. Artie's mine." With that, she opened the car door and headed out into the afternoon.

The walk to the Abrams place was nowhere near long enough to figure out a total plan of attack but at least she had some time to think. The last time she'd tried to tell him, she hadn't realized she was going to until that very minute and it just... came out. Evidently, badly. Mike said that this next time, he'd completely blindsided her, and that hadn't gone well either. But now she was prepared. Kind of. At the very least, she knew what she was getting herself into. The sheer prospect of coming clean kind of terrified her but he kept finding out – maybe, just maybe, Artie was supposed to know. That idea gave her courage as she approached his house.

His mother answered the door and ushered her to his room, where he was reading through some notes and listening to the Beatles. Mrs. Abrams closed the door behind her as she left them to it and Tina smiled at Artie, a little uneasy.

"Math tutoring didn't last long," Artie pointed out, his tone of voice somewhat icy.

"Turns out I'm not as much of a hopeless case as we thought," said Tina. She sat down on the edge of his bed, eyes level with his. "You sounded pretty serious earlier. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Artie stared at her for a long moment, chuckled humorlessly and looked away. After a moment, his eyes finally met hers again. "Tina, I don't really know how to say this so I'm just going to come out and say it, I guess," he said, awkwardly rushing his words. "I overheard Mike and Santana talking and they think that you had something to do with the whole self-slushie phenomenon. Well, more accurately, they think you did it. They said something about you blowing things up and then they mentioned me and I'm super confused but then I started thinking about how you reacted at lunch when I mentioned super powers and this is going to sound crazy but... do you have some kind of ability?"

Tina sat still for a moment, contemplating her response. Part of her wanted to grin at Artie's adorable nerdiness but it probably wasn't the time. Finally, she nodded. "Yes. I do."

"And that's how Karofsky ended up slushie-ing himself," Artie guessed. He laughed quietly. "I guess if you have super powers, you may as well use them to get revenge on people who make your life miserable." He fixed her with a questioning look. "What is it exactly you can do?"

"I can move things with my mind," Tina replied. She figured the key to all of this was to be as calm as possible. If she didn't freak out, then maybe he wouldn't. "Do you want me to show you?"

Artie looked somewhat startled at this but definitely intrigued. "Sure."

Tina took a few calming breaths – a few more than usual, to be fair – and focused on a Phillip Pullman novel on Artie's bookshelf. It pulled itself out of its place in the bookshelf and floated towards her steadily. When it reached her hand, she clasped it and then handed it to Artie. "Good book," she commented with a small grin as he gaped at it, eyes wide.

"Fuck. You weren't kidding."

"It'd be a pretty lame joke," she offered wryly.

Artie stared at the book in his hand and then back at Tina. He frowned slightly as he seemed to realize something. "Your stutter. It's gone."

"When I found out what I could do, I panicked," she explained softly. "Like, really panicked. When I get scared, or flustered, or nervous, I stutter. I realized that when I stuttered, people left me alone and because I was so scared of people finding out I was a total freak because of the abilities, I kept up the stutter to keep people away from me. So they wouldn't find out." Before he could say anything, before she could even gauge his reaction, she continued. "If certain people found out about me, they'd take me away to be tested. I'd probably be locked up for the rest of my life while they tried to figure out exactly how these abilities work. When I found this out... I was already shy, and scared, and even though the stutter wasn't always real, it came naturally. It kept people away."

"That makes sense," said Artie slowly. Tina let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding. "How... how do you know what will happen if people find you?"

"Mike knows things," she replied. "He _sees_ things. The future. Well, more like a possible future. He sees events that are happening and then sees what will happen if they happen... life for him is like some weird choose your own adventure book. As in, sometimes he sees what will happen if he does something, and it's up to him to choose whether or not to do it. Or to stop other people from doing it." Off Artie's somewhat confused look, she laughed quietly. "It's complicated. I don't really get it. I'm just giving you the explanation Mike tried to give me when I first asked about it."

Artie sat for a moment, clearly trying to take it in. Finally, he spoke. "This is really happening, isn't it?"

Tina nodded. "Yeah. It is."


	14. Chapter 14: Artie

Excuse the delay, guys. Things have been a bit nuts, what with party planning (birthday Thursday!) and the ArTinathon, etc. Check out the tumblr, link in my profile, there are links to a whole bunch of nifty fics! Also, just a heads up that updates might be a bit sporadic til the end of the month. I'm writing a musical and I really need to get the first draft done before the funding round closes but I'll be doing my best to keep up.

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Chapter 14: Artie

To an outside observer, Tina looked pretty calm, but Artie had known her too long to be fooled by that. It made sense she was a bit freaked out, considering what she'd just told him. But there was an inner confidence in her that he'd only ever seen when she was performing that calmed him down, made him feel like despite the fact that she'd just confirmed his most outlandish theory and probably completely changed his world, everything was going to be okay. "When did you find out what you could do?" he asked, trying to get more information. To understand this impossible situation.

"Sixth grade," she replied simply. "We'd just moved here. We'd been living in upstate New York and Dad's job moved us here. I was pretty shy back then and moving to a new school to start all over again was just awful. In the first few months at school here in Lima, I didn't really talk to anyone and then there was this week they assigned this speech on the Missouri Compromise. It was supposed to be an assignment in pairs but there was an uneven number of people in the class and no one wanted to pair up with me, so I had to do it by myself."

The hurt in her voice was obvious even after all this time and Artie felt a pang in his heart. He knew what it was like to be rejected. He took her hand and squeezed it sympathetically. She took a breath and continued her story.

"I remember going to the library at lunch before class and going through my notes... I was totally freaking out about the speech and all of a sudden, all the books started falling out of the shelves, like some invisible hand was pulling them out and throwing them across the room. Of course, I started freaking out even more. The librarian basically decided it was a freak earthquake and made everyone leave and then I had the class and I just... I couldn't do it. I was so freaked out I couldn't even get a word out, I just..."

"Stuttered," Artie finished for her simply. Tina nodded in agreement.

"Then a few days later, Mike comes up to me and introduces himself and somehow, I end up going back to his place after school through some lame excuse, I can't even remember what now. That was when he explained the whole abilities thing. He explained how he could see the future and told me that the day he introduced himself to me, he prevented me from hassled by a bunch of jocks and... something bad happening."

"What happened?" he asked, not missing the change in Tina's tone at the last comment.

Tina looked down at her shoes. "I... it's taken me awhile to get control of my abilities, I'm still just learning. Apparently I freaked out and brought the lockers down on the jocks. And me." Off Artie's horrified look, she continued. "It didn't happen, it's completely fine... Mike just saw it happen. And stopped it. If it had happened, it would have set off huge warning bells and the people who are out there looking for people like us would have been all over it. And they would have found Mike and Santana, as well."

"Does Mike see things a lot?" asked Artie. The science-fiction nerd in him was intensely curious about Mike's ability. The rest of him just wanted to change the subject away from the mental image of Tina, crushed by lockers. A shiver ran through him as he realized just how dangerous Tina's abilities could be.

"I guess," Tina replied thoughtfully, her tone confirming Artie's suspicion that she'd be happier with a subject change as well. "There always seems to be something. It's like he sees things that are about to happen, then sees what will happen if that thing happens, and a lot of the time he'll stop the first thing in order to prevent something awful from happening as a result." Tina bit her lip, a troubled expression on her face. "It can get a little claustrophobic sometimes. Feeling like you never get a chance to make your mistakes, see what happens. And there's the whole... hero complex thing Mike has going on." Tina smiled wryly. "He's pretty much the ringleader of our merry little circus of freaks."

"And Santana?" Artie asked. "What can she do?"

Tina's expression grew even more troubled. Artie felt a gnawing sensation in his stomach as she took his hand and looked at him gravely. "I need you to hear me out on this, okay?" she said calmly but firmly. "You're not going to like what you're about to hear but you need to listen to all the facts before you react."

That did not sound promising. But the expression on her face was so serious and everything else she'd said so far had sounded so completely insane that he had no idea what to expect, so he nodded. "Okay."

"Santana's ability is a little creepy," Tina began hesitantly. "She can read minds. Not only that, but she can make changes to them, too. It takes more effort and she doesn't do it often but she can make people do things, say things, think things... forget things." She looked down, as if gathering her strength, then looked up and continued. "After our date with the wheelchair racing, I wanted to tell you everything. I didn't want there to be secrets between us if we were going to be more than friends. So I tried to tell you... but Santana stopped me."

Artie just stared, trying to take in what Tina had said. He nodded, signaling for her to continue. She took a deep breath. "She made me tell you that I'd faked the stutter simply because I was shy and... you didn't take it well," continued Tina. The look on her face was so hurt and betrayed that it pulled at his heartstrings and he felt a rush of guilt, despite the fact that he had no recollection of this conversation at all. He was starting to piece things together. "After you left, I was upset and because I was upset, I kind of... freaked out. And the light bulbs all exploded and I passed out. And apparently you were still around and you saw this all happen but Santana made you forget it ever happened." Tina looked at him again, expression more guarded than he'd ever seen it. "That's why she was out sick for a week. It takes a lot out of her to do something like that. Which is why she doesn't do it often."

"Santana made me forget," Artie said, trying the words out for size. It sounded completely ridiculous. "That's... insanely creepy that she can do this." He laughed, a little hollowly. "I knew there was a legitimate reason to be slightly scared of Santana."

"She's not a complete bitch even though she acts like one sometimes," Tina rushed to explain. "She's scared. If people find out about us... there's some pretty terrifying things that could happen to us. Experiments. Testing. Pretty much being used as lab rats. And that's something we really don't want to happen." She took another breath, a faraway look in her eyes, as if she were deciding her next move. Finally she looked at him again. "Santana has it harder than the rest of us. Because of Coach Sylvester."

This was a new one. "How does Coach Sylvester fit in?" Artie asked.

"She's looking for people like us," said Tina simply. "Anything out of the ordinary, she hones in on. Apparently she's already on Santana about finding out about the fire in the hallway and who did it."

"She's after you," Artie confirmed. A wave of fear swept through him. Sue Sylvester was terrifying enough as it was. Now knowing that she'd happily dissect Tina if she got half the chance made Artie even more apprehensive.

"Santana has to deal with her almost every day," said Tina. "Knowing that if she slips up, Sue would be on her in a second. Yes, she's head Cheerio and she pretty much rules the school but she's fought to be there, mostly to keep us safe. Know your enemy and all that." Tina looked at Artie seriously. "Santana just wants to keep me safe. It's why she made you forget. Apparently when I tried to tell you, I didn't do a very good job and you freaked out and told someone you shouldn't have about us... lead Sue straight to us. Mike saw it. And then when the fire happened, you found out more about us and Mike and Santana freaked and I was unconscious and couldn't stop them and... I'm really sorry. I know what it feels like to know you've had your mind messed with and it's not a nice feeling but you have to know that it was for our protection. This school, this town, regular normal life... it's scary for us. Knowing that at any minute, a tiny slip up could get us all taken away."

"So why tell me all this now?" Artie asked, still trying to make things make sense. "I mean, why not just have Santana make me forget all about what I overheard?"

"Like I said, it takes a lot out of her," Tina replied. She blushed a little. "Plus, she knows I wouldn't want her to. I... I don't like that she did it in the first place. I care about you too much, I..." she trailed off, looking away. When she finally looked back, her expression was guarded again. "I'm learning how to control what I can do and I'm getting better at it, I am, but it's still dangerous. And you not knowing and things being weird between us... it was so hard to control my abilities when my emotions were all over the place. Knowing that you know, that I've had a chance to properly explain, I can keep things under control and hopefully I won't try to blow up the school again."

Artie looked at her for a long while before finally speaking. "I'm not going to tell anyone, Tee." He looked her straight in the eyes, willing her to realise just how serious he was. "I swear. I won't tell anyone, I won't mention it to anyone, I won't talk about it in public... I wouldn't do anything to put you in danger."

"And I don't want to put you in danger," said Tina gravely. The tone of her voice set off warning bells in his head. "Which is why I think we should keep just being friends. For now."

"Tina-"

"I'm not going to lie to you, Artie, I want to be more than friends with you, I really do. I just... I'm only learning how to control what I can do and until I've got a better handle on it, I don't want to put you in danger." She looked at him, eyes swimming with emotion. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. If our places were switched, wouldn't you do the same?"

He tried to think of a response that would make her change her mind but he had to admit, she raised a valid point. She was right. If he ever thought being with her would put her in danger, he wouldn't. He sighed and he nodded. "I get it. Can I just ask one question, though? Then I swear I'll respect this... friends thing."

Tina nodded. "Sure."

"When we went on our wheelchair racing date," he began hesitantly, "did you... did you kiss me?"

Tina leaned in and pressed her lips against his. He pulled her closer to him, his hand around her waist holding onto her like a drowning man. When their lips parted, she looked at him with a small, sad smile. "I did," she said. "It's probably my favorite memory."

With that, she picked up her bag and headed out the door.


	15. Chapter 15: Matt

Chapter 15: Matt

Matt meant to head home after Glee rehearsal. He really did. Somehow, he ended up driving right past the turn-off into his street and just keeping down the main road, no particular destination in mind. Just driving. For awhile. Just until he was ready to go home. The idea of home was freaking him out more than he cared to admit and he wasn't really sure what exactly to do about it. Home wasn't a place he trusted anymore. Not after last night.

It had all seemed so normal. What with Glee and football and not being great with organizing his time, Matt had completely forgotten about his history essay until the night before it was due. This wasn't exactly the first time something like this had happened but his history grade was looking pretty dismal and turning this essay in late could be the last straw if he actually wanted to pass. After dinner he holed himself up in his room, frantically reading through his notes and wishing he had more time to get the damn thing done.

After a few hours of frantic work, he noticed how still the room seemed. He looked at the clock to see that it hadn't moved and figured it was broken, so went back to his work. Then when he went to the kitchen to get a glass of water (and possibly the packet of Oreos he knew his mom kept in the back of the pantry for when she was PMS-ing – she got freaky scary that time of the month) he noticed that his sister's fish weren't moving in their tank. Nothing was moving. The clock still said the same time it had in his room. He went into the living room to see the dog sitting at the bottom of the sofa, deadly still. Another clock. Still at 7pm. But he'd been working since he finished dinner just before 7 and his mother had left to pick his sister up from ballet lessons. He tried not to panic, checked all the rooms in the house and found no one home.

It all seemed too unreal. Far too unreal. So he headed back to his room, kept working on his essay for what felt like a few more hours, trying to ignore the feeling that something was terrible wrong. It wasn't until he finished the essay, printed it off and put it in his bag that he dared to look at the clock again.

7.10pm.

From downstairs, he could hear the door open and his sister's voice, chattering away excitedly about the lesson. Matt headed down toward the kitchen, needing to see them, to make this whole crazy thing go away. His mother was pulling leftovers out of the fridge to heat up for his sister and frowned as Matt walked into the room.

"Aren't you supposed to be working on that history essay?" she said, in that parental warning tone he was all too used to.

"I have been," he replied. "I'm just stopping for a break. I'm hungry."

She rolled her eyes. "Teenage boys and their stomachs. Honey, I just fed you before I picked Charlotte up from ballet class all but ten minutes ago. You're going to eat me out of house and home."

Not knowing quite what to say, he mumbled an apology and headed back to his room, to find he still had the packet of Oreos anyway. He ate them, reread his essay (which was pretty darn good) and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Then he went to bed. The next morning his mother worriedly asked him if he was feeling okay – he'd gone to bed so early and he seemed so out of sorts. Matt really didn't want to talk about it so he just headed to school, handed in the stupid essay and tried not to think about it.

Trying not to think about something never worked. It was all he _could_ think about – the stillness. The immobile pets. The clock that didn't move. The fact that he got an entire essay done in what felt like at least 6 hours but his mother insisted was only ten minutes. Was he going crazy? It had taken all his effort to keep concentration during Glee rehearsal. Luckily, no one noticed him. No one really did. He liked staying in the background. Plus there was the distraction of Santana running off to puke, which took everyone's attention away.

Matt hoped like hell Santana hadn't gone and got herself knocked up, too. The few times he'd hooked up with Santana they'd been super careful but he knew Santana had been with Puck. Matt had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't Finn Hudson who'd knocked up Quinn Fabray. He'd just have to count on the fact that Santana was nowhere naïve enough to get herself pregnant. The girl had experience, she must have figured it out by now.

Sure, driving around Lima wasn't really the most productive way to calm his nerves but it was better than sitting at home, staring at the dog and freaking out every time she stopped moving. Matt was debating heading out the main highway when he heard his phone buzz and pulled to the side of the road to answer it. After a school assembly about driving hazards and accident prevention, not to mention the awkwardness that was Glee rehearsal for the next few weeks after some teacher got the bright idea to use Artie as an example of the consequences of a car crash, Matt had been super paranoid about answering his phone while driving. Once he was stopped safely, he checked to find a text from Mike.

**Sup man, we havnt hung out in awhile. U free now? Come ova.**

It seemed like a better idea that wasting petrol driving all the way to the middle of nowhere and back again. Matt texted back a reply and then started up his car to head over to the Changs.

From the minute he arrived, he could tell something was up. Mrs. Chang answered the door and ushered him into the lounge, where Santana and Mike were sitting on the couch, both looking a little uncomfortable. Mrs. Chang offered Matt a Coke and then headed off, leaving the three teenagers alone. Matt took one look at Santana's pale face and sat down on a nearby armchair.

"I'm guessing there's something going on," he said finally, breaking the silence. "You may as well just come out and say it."

Mike and Santana looked at each other, then Mike spoke. "Matt... we know about what's happening to you. The stopping time thing."

Matt just stared. Finally, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind."So I didn't knock up Santana?"

Santana rolled her eyes, a bit of her color back. "Bitch, please." She gave Mike an incredulous look. Mike looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Apparently not, man," said Mike. The tension in the room eased a little but the slightly freaked out feeling he'd been driving around trying to avoid was back in full swing. "I know this is all going to sound a little insane."

"How do you know this?" Matt asked. "I haven't mentioned this to anyone."

Mike looked at him carefully. "It's complicated."

There was an irritated sigh as Santana stood up. "No, it's not fucking complicated. I read your mind. I can read minds. Mike can see the future. Tina can make things explode. You can stop time. It's not complicated at all."

Matt blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me," she replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "We're a merry band of super heroes! Except without the outfits." She shot Mike a dirty look. "I saw you picturing Tina and I in latex catsuits, Chang. You're such a perv."

"Oh come on, Santana," Mike replied, only blushing a little. "I dare you to look into the mind of any teenage boy and find pretty much exactly the same thing. Well, except Kurt."

Matt had to admit, Mike had a point. Now he couldn't get the image of Tina and Santana in latex catsuits of _his_ head.

Santana slapped him across the back of the head.

"That's so not proof you can read minds," Matt grumbled. "The minute you mentioned girls and catsuits, the thought process was pretty much a given."

"Santana, lay off him," Mike said with a sigh. "And me." He looked at Matt sympathetically. "Look, I know this whole thing is weird, but we figured you'd want to know that you're not the only one who's going through this."

Matt nodded. "Yeah, I definitely wanted to know... how long have you known? About your abilities, I mean?"

"As long as I can remember," Mike said. "My parents... let's just say they know a thing or two about it. I'll explain it all later." He looked over at Santana, who had sat back down on the couch, all of a sudden looking extremely tired. "San, you doing okay?"

Santana nodded, curling up on the couch. "It's just... fuck, I'm so sick of this, you know? Not only do I have to deal with Sue Sylvester all day, freaking out in case she finds out about us, we've also Tina to worry about and whatever it is she's told Wheels, there's still someone out there who knows about us who I haven't found yet and now there's Matt." She laughed harshly. "And here we are, initiating him into our weird little superhero club and I'm just sitting here thinking 'what the fuck is going on?' Why is it that we can even do this fucked up shit?" She looked at both of them and sighed. "I mean, I don't mind it. I don't. It's kind of cool sometimes. But here? In Lima, Ohio, where the minute anyone acts like they've got an actual personality, they get persecuted? It's like the universe's sick joke."

Matt couldn't help but just gape at Santana. He'd never heard her talk like this, ever. From all he could see, she was the ultimate team player – the perfect Cheerio, obsessed with popularity and all but making people fit into little stereotyped boxes. She was, as she'd put it a million times, Santana Fucking Lopez, Head Bitch In Charge. This was another side of Santana. A vulnerable side. A side that made him want to make things okay for her, even if she'd slap him silly should he ever suggest she needed anything from him.

Mike shot Matt a look he couldn't quite read. "By the way," said Mike, his voice subdued, "even though we get super powers – parts of this gig really suck."


	16. Chapter 16: Santana

Sorry for the delay, all. I've been working on a show and haven't had time for much fic writing but I've finally finished the first draft of the musical I'm writing and it's all underway, so I have time for writing for fun.

* * *

Chapter 16: Santana

"You're way too calm about this," Santana said to Matt pointedly. _It's pissing me off,_ she thought but didn't say. Fucking zen master Matt had been totally freaking out at Glee rehearsal and now when they give him full reason to be really freaking out, he just took it in his stride.

He shrugged. "What's the alternative? At least this is an explanation for what happened last night that makes some kind of sense." Matt grinned. "Plus, part of me is expecting I'll wake up any minute and find out the whole thing is some kind of wacked out dream."

Santana rolled her eyes. "If only." She looked over at Mike. "So, what now? We've got another ass to cover – what is it that Matt can even do?"

Mike looked irritated. "How am I supposed to know?" He turned to Matt. "All we know so far as you can stop time, right?"

Matt nodded. "I guess. I don't know. I don't even remember wanting to do it, I just remember freaking out about my history essay and it just... happening."

"Abilities seem to be linked to emotion," Mike explained. "Tina's the worst with that. She nearly burned down the school when she got upset about something."

Matt's eyes lit up. "Does she have some kind of badass setting things on fire power?"

Santana rolled her eyes. Guys and comic books. "She's telekinetic," she corrected. "She just doesn't control it well."

"She's getting better," Mike countered. "Apparently."

"Okay," said Santana, somewhat irritated. "So, what, we've got Tina who's still a loose cannon. We've got Matt who we don't even know exactly what he can do yet. And, to top it off, we've still got to find whoever it was who sent Tina that note and has been looking out for her. Potentially us. Great. Oh, and don't forget that Tina is over, spilling her guts to Wheels as we speak. The whole secret identity as a superhero thing doesn't work if you everyone knows."

"Someone sent Tina a note?" Matt asked.

Mike nodded. "We have no idea who yet." He looked thoughtful. "You know, maybe my parents could do some testing of your abilities with you. That's how we figured out the scope of mine and Santana's. And they've been working with Tina."

"Back up," Matt asked, frowning. "Your parents know?"

Mike nodded. "They knew before I did." Off Matt's even more puzzled look, he continued. "They're scientists. Their jobs used to be researching people like us."

"Cos that's not creepy at all," said Matt dryly.

Santana snorted. At least the situation seemed to be sinking in a little for him. That was the problem with teenage boys. They thought they were the X-men. Got caught up in latex catsuits and super powers and didn't think about things like the possibility of getting killed, or worse, tortured, tested and experimented on until you wished someone would kill you. She'd eavesdropped on Sue Sylvester's thoughts. The crazy bitch got off on torturing people like her. Pretending to be Sue's brainless minion and resisting the urge to choke the psycho's throat should make her eligible for a fucking Oscar.

"If your ability gets out of control, it could get a little messy," Mike said gravely. "Especially if you can travel through time as well as stopping it."

"Whoa, you think I could do that?"

Mike shrugged. "Dunno, man. That's how it worked on Heroes."

"Would you shut the fuck up about that fucking television show?" Santana snapped again.

Mike raised his hands up in surrender. "Hey, my dad says it's more accurate than you'd think." He rolled his eyes. "Only in real life, everyone's not quite as pretty."

"Blonde chick with the electricity power was smokin'," Matt added. "Like, literally."

The two guys exchanged a high five and Santana rolled her eyes again. She was about to make some kind of cutting remark when Tina walked into the room. Santana took one look at her and sat her down on the couch immediately. "Do I have to go over there and make him forget?" she asked quickly. "Because if I do, I need to go now. Before he tells someone." She shot a frantic look at Mike. "Mike. Anything?"

Mike shook his head, as did Tina. "He's fine," Tina informed them. "He's not going to tell anyone. It's just... I can't really do the relationship thing when I'm blowing things up all the time." Her eyes darken. "It's too dangerous. Especially for him. I mean, if something happens, it'd be so much harder for him to get to safety, with the chair." She looked over to Mike. "You said I nearly killed him before. With the fire at school."

"You didn't kill him," Mike replied, his tone reassuring. "Tina, you can't beat yourself up over this. It didn't happen."

"It did happen," she argued. "We just stopped it from happening. But it still happened. I can't just forget it."

"Things like this are going to happen all the time," Santana reminded her. "Mike sees things. It's his job. To keep us safe." She looked over to see Mike's expression tighten, just a little, and immediately felt guilty. She wasn't blind, she hadn't missed Mike's increasing hero complex. "Well, he'll see what's about to go wrong and I'll go all Xena on their asses," she added, grinning at him to try and lighten the load.

Mike laughed a little but it wasn't convincing. As Matt asked Tina exactly what had happened with Artie and Tina filled him in, Santana sat back and concentrated on getting a good look into Mike's head.

_/this sounds okay/ it sounds like it's going to be okay/ I haven't seen anything/ not this time around/ fuck, this is confusing/ Tina's getting stronger/ Mom said she'd been practicing a lot/ just hope she doesn't overdo it/ it's intoxicating, what we can do/ she hasn't done much before/ Dad said something about addiction/ God knows Santana's already halfway there/ she'll listen in on anyone/ can she handle it?/ of course she can/ she's Santana/ Santana/ fuck, she'd look awesome in a catsuit/ everyone sees her as this bitchy Cheerio but she's got so much heart/ just look at her with Tina now/ the way she deals with Sue every day/ I couldn't do it/ it must be terrifying/ she's pretty much fucking Wonder woman/ I could be the Cyclops to her Jean Grey/ she's kind of terrifying herself sometimes/ Dark Phoenix, anyone?/ fuck/ she's looking at me/ is she reading?/ Santana, some stuff is private!/ like my visions of you in spandex/ oh fuck/ oh fuck/ oh fuck/_

Santana stifled a laugh and Mike glared at her, blushing more than a little. "Don't," he said quietly, clearly trying not to get Matt and Tina's attention.

She smiled and mimicked zipping her lips shut. It wasn't like this was anything she hadn't heard before. Mike's vaguely inappropriate thoughts about her had been a constant theme since they hit puberty but the slightly less pervy thoughts were almost more disturbing. They'd never spoken about it – Mike would never bring it up out loud and Santana wasn't exactly keen to have any kind of heart to heart on the matter about it, given that she never wanted to think about it long enough to reach some kind of conclusion. Mike was just... Mike. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Have you told your parents yet?" Tina asked Mike, who was slowly returning back to his normal color.

"About what?" Mike asked.

Santana rolled her eyes but Tina just patiently continued. "About Matt. And what he can do. We'll have to figure out more about it."

"My parents are out of town," said Mike. "Some kind of medical conference. Lily's with them and they're not back til after the weekend."

"Normally I'd suggest throwing a party but right now, I'd rather know a bit more about all this," Matt commented with a wry smile.

"Do yourself a favor," Santana suggested. "Don't tell Puck about the no parents thing."

"So what do we do about what Matt can do?" Tina asked.

There was a long pause where everyone looked toward Mike. Santana resisted the urge to reach back into his mind – he'd be on guard now, anyway – but she didn't need to be a mind reader to tell that the pressure of being the 'fearless leader' wasn't something he was completely okay with.

"We lay low for awhile," Santana said firmly, taking the decision out of Mike's hands. "We keep our heads down, we keep calm and we don't cause any more trouble. When the Changs get back, we find out more."

After a quick look in Mike's direction, Tina nodded in agreement. "That sounds sensible."

As the two boys nodded their agreement, Santana caught Mike send her a small, grateful smile and tried not to let it bother her too much.

The next day at school was the test, of course.

Matt and Mike spent most of the day hanging out with each other. Santana would never admit it, of course, but of all the idiots in Glee club who could have turned out to be like them, she was glad it was Matt, if only for Mike's sake. She hoped that maybe the whole situation would enable Mike to share the burden of being 'the man' in this superhero gig. Not that she felt she needed a man to protect her. She really didn't. But Mike was old-fashioned and he took responsibility for everyone, mostly due to the nature of his ability but also due to the fact that up until now, it had been him and two girls and he'd felt like he had to step up. At the beginning, Santana had tried to stamp out the attitude but gradually as her social climbing left her more and more exposed to Sue Sylvester, it became almost a comfort to have someone to lean on. Not that she'd ever admit it, not that she'd ever explicitly read it – but she was fairly certain Mike knew that.

At Glee rehearsal, Santana walked in to find Tina and Artie already there, laughing and talking in the corner, not having noticed her entrance. Artie had been glaring at her all day so didn't particularly want to catch his attention.

Santana knew Tina would have to have told him about her part in that particular mess and no one would be okay with having their mind messed with. She made a mental note to, at some point, get Wheels aside and... well, not apologize, but explain that it wasn't personal, that it had been all but self-defense and that he should seriously chill the fuck out about it, because the death glare was getting a little annoying.

"They seem okay," said Matt from behind her, having just entered the choir room.

"He makes her happy," she said by way of explanation, watching them as other Glee members trailed in. "So really, I can't... we can't get in the way. Unless he says something stupid or Mike sees something, in which case I'm totally getting in the way, no questions asked."

"It's still a little surreal," said Matt with a shake of his head. "Today's been so... normal. Makes me feel like I made it up."

Santana opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a flood of thoughts, crashing over her like a tidal wave.

_/do these pants make me look fat?/ girl needs to tone down the outfit, that is seriously fugly/ dude, in Spanish you totally do things to yourself all the time/ fuck yeah, Spain/ I know I shouldn't look, but Rachel's legs look really nice in that skirt/ oh crap, Quinn's looking at me/ I know that look, it means death/ terrific, my boyfriend's perving on Man Hands – again/ I'm not blaming the nausea on morning sickness this time/ seriously though, Santana would totally rock spandex – stop it, Chang/ she'll go Warrior Princess on you if she catches you thinking that again/ this could be a challenge/ I need to get them motivated/ how should I pair them off?/ randomly is best, I think/ don't want to rock the boat/ I've seen how Finn stares at Rachel/ I wonder if there are people out there who can fly/ after all, Tina is telekinetic/ I could totally use this for a plot for a science fiction film/ he keeps asking questions/ does he think I'm a freak?/ what if he says something to the wrong person/ he wouldn't do that intentionally/ he's just curious/ that foundation is nowhere near right for her coloring/ no, wait, that's not foundation/ oh sweet Versace, I think she's gonna puke/ _

"Santana?" a voice asked. "Are you alright?"

She hadn't even realized she'd closed her eyes but she opened them to see Kurt looking at her, a cautiously concerned expression on her face. "Fine, Hummel," she replied, a little snappy but none of her usual snark. She turned to where Matt was standing to find... empty space.

Kurt raised his hands in surrender and headed toward a seat. Santana stared again at the spot where Matt had been just a moment ago, trying to figure it out. She was about to turn to see if he was elsewhere when, all of a sudden, he popped back into view.

He was pale and shaken and very, very confused. "Something's wrong," he managed to say before disappearing right in front of her eyes, yet again.

And this time, he didn't come back.


End file.
